240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Othen

Well that was fun: a nice circuit of dual carriageway and urban roads through town with the sunroof open and Absolute Radio (1215kHz here in Northamptonshire) to complete the 1980s driving experience with glorious mono sound.

I tested the speedometer's accuracy because of the tyre issue Alf mentioned the other day and found that an indicated 70MPH the Barge's GPS speed was 68MPH, this is fine.

I found out the driving lamps that were on the RB 3 years ago, they are in good condition, but I'm not sure they do much to enhance the Barge's already good looks:



I think fitting them above the bumper would obscure the GLE badge and the grille, so it would have to be below. I'll think about that one.

:-)

Not keen bud. Baby’s headlights are fine.👍🤩👓

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

I can assure you Dave when I pulled a 1500kg LMC caravan behind the V70 D5, I didn’t get in anybody’s way, no Sir!🤨🚀

Thanks for the good wishes!😘

You're obviously the exception that proves the rule Andrew!

As for the driving lamps Alan, above the bumper almost always looks better, below the bumper and people confuse them for foglights. You should be able to move the GLE badge to the centre of the grille below the Volvo "roundel" (not the right term but i'm having brian frog at the moment) and ............... errrrrrrrrrr............... round driving lights seem to look better on cars with rectangular headlamps.

Also if you're worried about cooling by having the lamps above the bumper, it's no different to mounting them below, there are cooling ducts below the bumper too.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

You're obviously the exception that proves the rule Andrew!

As for the driving lamps Alan, above the bumper almost always looks better, below the bumper and people confuse them for foglights. You should be able to move the GLE badge to the centre of the grille below the Volvo "roundel" (not the right term but i'm having brian frog at the moment) and ............... errrrrrrrrrr............... round driving lights seem to look better on cars with rectangular headlamps.

Also if you're worried about cooling by having the lamps above the bumper, it's no different to mounting them below, there are cooling ducts below the bumper too.

Certainly not above the bumper Dave, I mocked them up there and it ruins the motor car. if I fit them they go discretely below the bumper; no round lamps either.

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Certainly not above the bumper Dave, I mocked them up there and it ruins the motor car. if I fit them they go discretely below the bumper; no round lamps either.

Alan

Below the bumper then rectangular lamps look better definitely! Also you might find some original front frog lamp mounts there and be able to repurpose those for your driving lamps Alan.

I like them when the centres of the auxiliary lamps below the bumper line up with the centres of the original headlamps which is more or less how Volvo arranged the fron fogs on most cars.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Below the bumper then rectangular lamps look better definitely! Also you might find some original front frog lamp mounts there and be able to repurpose those for your driving lamps Alan.

I like them when the centres of the auxiliary lamps below the bumper line up with the centres of the original headlamps which is more or less how Volvo arranged the fron fogs on most cars.

Thanks Dave,

I noticed there are some (four) convenient holes for the nuts & bolts that hold the valance at the front that could be easily re-purposed so no drilling would be required. The car is so original it would be a pity to drill any holes.

It does seem odd that someone went to the expense of specifying wiring for driving lamps (from new perhaps) but then didn't fit them (unless I've yet to find the mounting points?).

As I explained to Luke, this is an opportunity rather than a need. What I may do when I take the under-engine tray off to change the cam and auxiliary belts is trace the wire from the relay and if it is indeed spare, then test its function with a multimeter. If it turns out to be properly wired for driving lamps. If (and only if) that checks out then I may try the halogen lamps in two of the holes for fixing the valance (either under the edges of the number plate, or further out). I checked out the lamps with a spare battery today.

My thinking is that 95% of the wiring is already done, and I could have a short loom already made up for the rest. The lamps would only take a minute or two to fix onto the bottom of the bumper with two nuts. The fitting part would probably only be half an hour, and if I didn't like the effect it could all be removed without trace.

Being a tightwad, I quite like the idea of getting something for nothing, and this could be exactly that (apart from a few metres of cable and some connectors I already have.

What do you think?

:-)

PS. I've just been out to check, and can see that if I used the outer two mounting holes then the edges of the driving lights would line up with the outer edges of the headlamps, that might be quite cool.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Thanks Dave,

I noticed there are some (four) convenient holes for the nuts & bolts that hold the valance at the front that could be easily re-purposed so no drilling would be required. The car is so original it would be a pity to drill any holes.

It does seem odd that someone went to the expense of specifying wiring for driving lamps (from new perhaps) but then didn't fit them (unless I've yet to find the mounting points?).

As I explained to Luke, this is an opportunity rather than a need. What I may do when I take the under-engine tray off to change the cam and auxiliary belts is trace the wire from the relay and if it is indeed spare, then test its function with a multimeter. If it turns out to be properly wired for driving lamps. If (and only if) that checks out then I may try the halogen lamps in two of the holes for fixing the valance (either under the edges of the number plate, or further out). I checked out the lamps with a spare battery today.

My thinking is that 95% of the wiring is already done, and I could have a short loom already made up for the rest. The lamps would only take a minute or two to fix onto the bottom of the bumper with two nuts. The fitting part would probably only be half an hour, and if I didn't like the effect it could all be removed without trace.

Being a tightwad, I quite like the idea of getting something for nothing, and this could be exactly that (apart from a few metres of cable and some connectors I already have.

What do you think?

:-)

I think that sounds like a plan Alan!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

You could add power to your bike trailer Alan, useful for powering tools, work lights etc with the 12S (for Supplementary) socket. I'd also advise against removing it for two reasons, first it's very common to create problems when removing trailer sockets (of any form) and second, it looks as if it was part of the original installation, perhaps from new. Keeping it original will retain originality and in years to come if you sell the car, the new owner might be buying it specifically to tow a classic caravan and you might create a "deal breaker" if you remove it.

https://www.towingandtrailers.com/te...-for-12s-plug/

Bit of info for you there!

Thank you for your thoughts on that Dave. I've just looked up the wiring code for a 12S 7pin socket and can see the bottom pin is a permanent live. I'm not keen on having a permanent live exposed like that for something I will probably never need, so I think removing the grey socket would be a good idea. What I will probably do is terminate the 7 conductors inside an isolating enclosure (inside the boot) so it could be reinstated if someone really wanted to.

Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I think that sounds like a plan Alan!

I enjoy this part of my projects so much Dave - coming up with simple plans to maximise what I have.

:-)

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I think that sounds like a plan Alan!

Thank you Dave,

I think this is a low priority thing. Once I've established what the mystery wire does I'll mark it and tuck it away somewhere safe, then put the driving lamps into the spares shed. This might be a good job for a quiet day during the winter when I'm at a loose end.

Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Othen

You are correct Dave, the Barge is silver:

... but none of the models is exactly right because they are all LHD, so the exact colour isn't so important. I'm thinking maybe the gold one at 1:24 scale for about £22 would be nice.

Alan

PS. I've ordered the gold model.

I've been thwarted in my attempts to complete the remaining jobs on the Barge by the posties deliberately providing me with a very poor delivery service in a misguided attempt to hurt their employers, so there will be no more progress today. This little piece of wonderfulness did show up in the mail though:



... apart from being LHD it is a pretty good replica of the Barge. I like it.

Alan