JJs Project Thread - 240 GL Estate

[Problemchild1976]

Hey - well I've been enjoying driving it

Got some small plans afoot for a radio upgrade

I'll post some pics on the weekend

In the mean time.....some pics down by the coast





And a mini milestone



JJ

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Problemchild1976

Hey - well I've been enjoying driving it

Got some small plans afoot for a radio upgrade

I'll post some pics on the weekend

In the mean time.....some pics down by the coast

And a mini milestone

JJ

Expensive radio? I put a £15 Chinese retro styled radio in the Barge with the original 4 Volvo speakers and it is enormously better than the 1982 Volvo cassette player (the radiogram). It doesn’t look out of place either (like the owner might have fitted it in about 1990).

:-)

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showp...postcount=3523

[Problemchild1976]

So have been upgrading the stereo the last few weeks

I love the authenticity of the OEM one but it's crap and the tape player doesn't work without chewing tapes and the volume is hit and miss.

So it's staying but I'm adding something else.

I wanted Bluetooth in case I wanted to hide the radio away fully (ie in the glove box) and I wanted DAB.

So went for an £80 pioneer mechless (ie no moving parts of a CD player)

This gives you a short DIN chassis to give even more flexibility for places to put it.

First thing.....

Take out the old system and see what feeds what in the car



Well thought the rear connector into the radio might have an adaptor or Ive always been happy to hard wire into the car but found a harness kit that tied into the main loom connector





And needed a decent DAB aerial.

So connecting up was actually really really easy.

With the passenger footwell carpet pulled back, access to the harnesses is v easy



So where to put the radio. The small cubby hole was the front runner and out of the way enough that it wasn't imposing and thus out of place. Plus there are already access holes to this area so no brainer really



Then needed to place the DAB aerial on the screen and the place the mic for the hands free, running both down the passenger a-pillar and behind the dash







So nice and tidy

So I now have, DAB, FM, Bluetooth and hands free calling, aux USB and 3.5mm



The sound quality is exemplary

I have an old school solution to bass ...



...haha but I am looking at some cheapish under seat subs but not necessary at the moment

JJ

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Problemchild1976

So have been upgrading the stereo the last few weeks

I love the authenticity of the OEM one but it's crap and the tape player doesn't work without chewing tapes and the volume is hit and miss.

So it's staying but I'm adding something else.

I wanted Bluetooth in case I wanted to hide the radio away fully (ie in the glove box) and I wanted DAB.

So went for an £80 pioneer mechless (ie no moving parts of a CD player)...

So nice and tidy

So I now have, DAB, FM, Bluetooth and hands free calling, aux USB and 3.5mm



The sound quality is exemplary

I have an old school solution to bass ...


...haha but I am looking at some cheapish under seat subs but not necessary at the moment

JJ

Super duper.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Problemchild1976

So have been upgrading the stereo the last few weeks

I love the authenticity of the OEM one but it's crap and the tape player doesn't work without chewing tapes and the volume is hit and miss.

So it's staying but I'm adding something else.

I wanted Bluetooth in case I wanted to hide the radio away fully (ie in the glove box) and I wanted DAB.

So went for an £80 pioneer mechless (ie no moving parts of a CD player)

This gives you a short DIN chassis to give even more flexibility for places to put it.

First thing.....

Take out the old system and see what feeds what in the car

Well thought the rear connector into the radio might have an adaptor or Ive always been happy to hard wire into the car but found a harness kit that tied into the main loom connector





...I have an old school solution to bass ...



...haha but I am looking at some cheapish under seat subs but not necessary at the moment

JJ

A thought though: I notice you have the same 3x3 Volvo block connector that I have on the Barge, and it looks like 8 are populated (I assume permanent live, switched live, -ve return, antenna and 4 terminals for the front speakers). So how are those bass speakers being powered? I'm guessing you had to provide 4 more connectors into the black ISO block?

This doesn't change the price of fish: I'm just curious how you solved it.

Alan

[Problemchild1976]

Originally Posted by Othen

A thought though: I notice you have the same 3x3 Volvo block connector that I have on the Barge, and it looks like 8 are populated (I assume permanent live, switched live, -ve return, antenna and 4 terminals for the front speakers). So how are those bass speakers being powered? I'm guessing you had to provide 4 more connectors into the black ISO block?

This doesn't change the price of fish: I'm just curious how you solved it.

Alan

The rear bass is just fed from the rear drivers speaker



Mine is only a GL so the car only had wiring for front 2 speakers (the second quad connector doesn't exist



So I removed the black one and then wired directly into the new wiring I fitted a while back



So now I have front a rear fader whereas before I only had left and right as the rears were just tied into the left/right channels

I've just ordered an active under seat sub so will fit that too

JJ

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Problemchild1976

The rear bass is just fed from the rear drivers speaker

Mine is only a GL so the car only had wiring for front 2 speakers (the second quad connector doesn't exist

So I removed the black one and then wired directly into the new wiring I fitted a while back

So now I have front a rear fader whereas before I only had left and right as the rears were just tied into the left/right channels

I've just ordered an active under seat sub so will fit that too

JJ

Looking back these days it is surprising what motor manufacturers got away with 40 years ago. The Barge is a GLE that had a radio/cassette player and 4 speakers fitted from new (I think everything apart from the front door speakers were probably a dealer fitted extra). When I pulled out the original radio/cassette (the radiogram) to replace it I found much the same wiring loom as yours. It turned out that the radiogram (a Volvo MDS system, probably an expensive extra in 1982) had only two output channels, the solution to power the 4 speakers was this genuine Volvo bodge:



… it is just two coaxially mounted rheostats that act as faders between the front and rear speakers, but the front and rear speakers are just wired into the same channels on the left and right sides. What a bodge straight out of the factory (well, probably fitted by the supplying dealer, but from genuine Volvo parts)!

Things are much neater now, even on the cheapest modern radios :-).

[Problemchild1976]

Originally Posted by Othen

Looking back these days it is surprising what motor manufacturers got away with 40 years ago. The Barge is a GLE that had a radio/cassette player and 4 speakers fitted from new (I think everything apart from the front door speakers were probably a dealer fitted extra). When I pulled out the original radio/cassette (the radiogram) to replace it I found much the same wiring loom as yours. It turned out that the radiogram (a Volvo MDS system, probably an expensive extra in 1982) had only two output channels, the solution to power the 4 speakers was this genuine Volvo bodge:



… it is just two coaxially mounted rheostats that act as faders between the front and rear speakers, but the front and rear speakers are just wired into the same channels on the left and right sides. What a bodge straight out of the factory (well, probably fitted by the supplying dealer, but from genuine Volvo parts)!

Things are much neater now, even on the cheapest modern radios :-).

This is the other connector in the loom that I'd assumed the extra connector on the harness adaptor would fit into but it's not got speaker wiring in - maybe it's to go to the amp if fitted?



JJ

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Problemchild1976

This is the other connector in the loom that I'd assumed the extra connector on the harness adaptor would fit into but it's not got speaker wiring in - maybe it's to go to the amp if fitted?



JJ

That is a mystery. It looks like only two of the pins are populated, is that right?

It looks like the connector that is supposed to fit onto the Volvo 2 fader bodge affair pictured above. I have the installation instruction somewhere, I’ll post a photo when I find it.

Afternote: here it is

[Juular]

This is turning out really nice.

What paint code is yours? It looks similar to mine but maybe a shade more green. Or maybe your paint just isn't as knackered as mine!

I'd like to eventually spray my Amazon a similar colour.