240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

The answer is simple then Alan, wait another year or two to get one that's imminently qualifying as Historic. The advantages would outweigh the disadvantages, even if you still did it in 2024.

The 740 was introduced in 1984 (unlike the 760 in 1982) so certain "niggles" were still being ironed out for the first year or two. Then they did the slight revamp and improved many things, not a facelift as such, just a collection of small improvements that together, made a vast improvement overall.

... perhaps I keep the Barge until 2025 - that isn't a bad option to have :-)

[loki_the_glt]

I've got a steel 15" wheel that's surplus to requirements. It was the Exxon Valdez's original spare but I acquired a set of 4 additional Pholus wheels and a second steel spare from a Scrappage car.

It needs cleaning up and a tyre but you're welcome to have it FOC as it's currently occupying valuable real estate in my garage.

Two of the Pholus wheels found a new owner, one is serving as the Valdez's spare and the eighth is currently under SFSS.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

I've got a steel 15" wheel that's surplus to requirements. It was the Exxon Valdez's original spare but I acquired a set of 4 additional Pholus wheels and a second steel spare from a Scrappage car.

It needs cleaning up and a tyre but you're welcome to have it FOC as it's currently occupying valuable real estate in my garage.

Two of the Pholus wheels found a new owner, one is serving as the Valdez's spare and the eighth is currently under SFSS.

That is kind Loki.

Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Othen

After dropping Dan at school and a bit of breakfast in the SC I got all teh oily jobs finished by 12:30 (so 2h 30m): completed or changed stuff in red::

1. Fit the new rear shock absorbers (only £36/pair). These were an advisory on the last MoT.
2. Change the wheel nuts to the closed end type.
3. Clean up the spare wheel and change the tyre to a new 175/70R14 (fitted - only £33).
4. Change the plugs, points and check ignition timing
5. Get a proper wheel brace (fitted).
6. Change the oil and filter.
7. Fit a new air filter (done). Update: the constant air temperature system is reinstated
8. Fit a new under-engine tray - done:... so the under-engine tray is secure for the first time since 2013.
9. Fit new headlamp wiper blades (ordered) and adjust properly. The washers are fixed.
10. Fit electronic points
11. Change the camshaft belt, check the water pump and idler.
11.a. Check the valve clearances, change the hushers and the camshaft oil seal.
12. Paint the exhaust manifold
13. Flush the cooling system.
14. Fit new auxiliary belts.
15. Find and fit some mud flaps for the rear.
16. Fit an new radio (it works very well). The antenna is fixed
17. Fix the O/D. Done :-)

Alan

Well, that is the last job from the project list ticked off (less checking the valve clearances that I've shelved for the time being): I fitted the electronic points today:



... a trivial job that only took about 20 minutes.

I checked the ignition timing and had to retard it a little - just due to manufacturing tolerances I think. I've run out of adjustment on the distributor (it was close to the end of the slot with the points fitted) - which should not matter as with the electronic points I should never have to move them again.

So, that is the project finished... of course it isn't!

:-)

[Bob 1967]

Same here, timing was off with the strobe.
But saying that, while changing the belts and with all the notches etc lined up correctly, I noted that the timing mark (TDC) on the belt cover was out a bit.
So, it follows that the timing marks would be out by the same margin.

I will (when weather and time permits) remove the covers and take some pics to show this. It will probably when I check the valve clearance. (I've more long fingers than can fit on two hands!)

Mine has the alloy/pot metal type of cover.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Bob 1967

Same here, timing was off with the strobe.
But saying that, while changing the belts and with all the notches etc lined up correctly, I noted that the timing mark (TDC) on the belt cover was out a bit.
So, it follows that the timing marks would be out by the same margin.

I will (when weather and time permits) remove the covers and take some pics to show this. It will probably when I check the valve clearance. (I've more long fingers than can fit on two hands!)

Mine has the alloy/pot metal type of cover.

That is a possibility Bob, I changed the cam belt just recently, the crank and camshaft marks are easy to see, but it would be easy to misinterpret the auxiliary shaft, exactly which tooth could be ambiguous:



... so I followed the original set up and put this paint mark on the back of the timing case:



The trouble with that method is that if the auxiliary shaft was set up one tooth out the last time it was changed then I'd have just copied it.

It would be better if the distributor was set up so that it was roughly in the middle of the slots, so I could either move the auxiliary shaft sprocket one tooth on the belt (I suppose that would only take half an hour) or pull out the distributor and move it round one tooth on the worm gear drive. I have a feeling moving the distributor would be a bit to coarse - I only want to move it about 10 degrees, but it looks like the worm gear drive only has about 16 teeth.

Thinking it through: it looks like moving the auxiliary sprocket one tooth on the cam belt to retard the ignition by about 10 degrees (it looks like there are about 40 teeth, so something like 9-10 degree increments) is the way to do it. I'll probably get round to that job this week.

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Looks like you're in the eternal dilemma as to whether to move the aux shaft pulley 1 tooth clockwise in relation to the cam and crank pulleys or wait and see.
However, i would be inclined to do exactly that - move it one tooth clockwise as when the belt stretches (don't forget to re-tension it after 600 miles! ), the distance between the driving (crank) pulley and the driven pulleys will increase. Although this will be marginal, if the dizzy is close to the end of it's adjustment slot for the timing, that margin might be enough to retard the timing more than you can adjust out.

Other than the ignition timing, the position of the aux shaft is completely arbitrary as nothing else is timed off it and the dizzy can be adjusted so i'd pay more attention to what movement you can gain for adjustment in the dizzy than having the timing marks on the aux shaft lined up perfectly. Opposite applies to the crank and cam pulleys, obviously for self-evident reasons.

You could of course do as you suggest, carefully remove the dizzy and alter its engagement by one tooth - mark the dizzy body with where the centre of the rotor points to so that when you refit the dizzy in its new position, you can swing the body round to line the rotor up to its same relative position give or take a smidge then once the cap is back on etc, check and tweak the dynamic timing.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Looks like you're in the eternal dilemma as to whether to move the aux shaft pulley 1 tooth clockwise in relation to the cam and crank pulleys or wait and see.
However, i would be inclined to do exactly that - move it one tooth clockwise as when the belt stretches (don't forget to re-tension it after 600 miles! ), the distance between the driving (crank) pulley and the driven pulleys will increase. Although this will be marginal, if the dizzy is close to the end of it's adjustment slot for the timing, that margin might be enough to retard the timing more than you can adjust out.

Other than the ignition timing, the position of the aux shaft is completely arbitrary as nothing else is timed off it and the dizzy can be adjusted so i'd pay more attention to what movement you can gain for adjustment in the dizzy than having the timing marks on the aux shaft lined up perfectly. Opposite applies to the crank and cam pulleys, obviously for self-evident reasons.

You could of course do as you suggest, carefully remove the dizzy and alter its engagement by one tooth - mark the dizzy body with where the centre of the rotor points to so that when you refit the dizzy in its new position, you can swing the body round to line the rotor up to its same relative position give or take a smidge then once the cap is back on etc, check and tweak the dynamic timing.

I think you are right Dave, I could just wait and see if I ever need any more adjustment of the distributor slot, or I could re-position it such that the correct timing is roughly in the middle. You are right that it isn't just the electronic module that affects the timing: stretch of the belt and mechanical wear will as well. Even though I may well get away with it, I feel a bit uncomfortable knowing the timing has no more adjustment in one direction.

I don't think moving the distributor on its worm drive would work: it looks like the drive only has about 16 (or maybe 20) starts - so one every 18-22 degrees. That would be too much to move the timing by, I think I'd end up with no more adjustment at the other end of the slots.

I think the answer is to move the auxiliary shaft by one tooth - there are 40ish on the sprocket, so one tooth will be something like 9 degrees - that should put the distributor right in the centre of the slots.

It should be quite an easy job on a B23a that has recently been apart. I think I'll get away with just removing the fan, shroud and cam belt cover with the crank and camshaft marks aligned (crimp the camshaft sprocket with some welding grips). Slip the belt off and move the auxiliary sprocket just one tooth without moving anything else. It should be all back together in about half an hour - then advance the distributor by 'about' 10 degrees (should be good enough to start the motor) and adjust the timing with the strobe.

It will make me much happier knowing everything is as it should be (even if the auxiliary shaft timing mark is a bit off).

:-)

[Laird Scooby]

I was forgetting how much work there is to get to the timing belt Alan - with that in mind, i'd definitely pull the dizzy out, rotate the shaft away from the end of the slot the adjuster is in and refit, note they are helical cut gears so the shaft will rotate as you move the dizzy in and out of the block, hence marking the relative position of the rotor arm before you start as outlined above.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I was forgetting how much work there is to get to the timing belt Alan - with that in mind, i'd definitely pull the dizzy out, rotate the shaft away from the end of the slot the adjuster is in and refit, note they are helical cut gears so the shaft will rotate as you move the dizzy in and out of the block, hence marking the relative position of the rotor arm before you start as outlined above.

I agree that sounds much simpler Dave, but I think the helical gear will be too coarse for this purpose. From the drawings it looks like the gears have only about 20 starts - so something like 20 degrees each. I think that will be too much - the slot at the base of the distributor is only about that long so I'd end up at the other end of the scale.

In this case I think I'll have to move the auxiliary sprocket one tooth.

Alan