Volvo 240 Rally build

Well I suppose I could update what has been happening in the adventures of me and my volvo...

Unfortunately not a ton. As a few of you may know it took a beating at rocky mountain. Learned a bunch, particularly pay attention when multiple people tell you about weak points on a car. My logic is that I am new to this and therefor slow so I shouldn't be breaking thing. Wrong.

First stage went well, however 4-5 minutes in bent one of the control arms, all I did was braked hard for a medium speed left turn, hit a moderate sized bump under braking and it folded. Not to the point where the car was undriveable but it didn't do anything favorable for the handling.

Second stage lesson two was learned... volvo motor mounts suck. The passengers side mount split clean and with the engine twisted also claimed the exhaust. As an added bonus it punched a hole in the oil filter so we lost most of the oil on the transit after. That put an end to day two.

Fortunately service was at a hockey rink parking lot so went into the rink and grabbed a few pucks.. they made good motormounts. Patched up the rest of the car, had to use the spare control arm upside-down as it was for the other side. Robert culbertson gave us a jug of diesel oil to get us going, thanks for that!

On the transit to the first stage of the second day lesson 3 was learned... alloy gearsticks of a small diameter are not the best idea. After the first day I couldn't get the car in reverse despite using way more force than I should have to try and get it to go... this was because the transmission was at an odd angle due to the broken motormount. So driving to the stage the gearstick snapped off as it was just waiting to fail. Not the end of the world, more funny than anything.

And then on the second stage of the second day a brake failure caused us to go tree cutting. Sadly We didn't win the award for most trees claimed at this particular event. Im sick of typing so without further ado some photos.

The last photo is a more or less a joke. Im 98% sure the metal where the rear window meets the roof on a two door is different, otherwise converting it to a 2 door would be relatively straight forward. Oh well. Getting there. Took a fair amount of effort to separate the inner rocker but I want it as a spare since the one on the car got chewed up (the floor was pushed in as well). Fortunately with the help of a friends portapower I think I was able to save it.

Sweet job, going to be painted for the test day?

---

Yes, it's a Ranger.
Xr4Ti, it is rwd and was made in Germany.

Then again:

---

First Rally attended (2000), First Rally competed in (2001)
Cars Built (1), Engines Built (0) Cages Built (0)
Driver (8), Co-Driver (47), Drivers (19)
Clerk (29), Steward (1), Official (17), Volunteer (5)
WRC Spectator (1), WRC Photographer (6), WRC Observer (4)
Rallies attended (120) Countries attended rallies in (11)
Last Updated, May30, 2022

gotta love #swedishhookers

---

Yes, it's a Ranger.
Xr4Ti, it is rwd and was made in Germany.

Dude your build is like my inspiration

I have seen that before Keith... i think ill pass. As much as I would like a 2 door I would be concerned about being able to register/ insure a 4 door to 2 door converted car. As an added bonus keeping me from attempting it the roof support/window frame would have to be modified significantly to accommodate the rear side glass. I'm on a bit of a time crunch so more work is not what I need.

Well Matt as you probably noticed by my absence at the test day... no it is not painted. not even close. It won't get painted till A) I have a chance to drive it around for a while and I make up my mind on a colour, which could take a while.

Glad you like it Yengi, though i'm not so sure I would call this inspiring. But if it works for ya use it as a drive to start building something!

So I do actually have a bit of progress. Rocker and b pillar are roughed in. Still deciding on the best way to go about the final fitment, particularly on the b pillar. I assumed the b pillar was just spot welded to the top of the roof support, turns out this was very wrong. The inner b pillar is stamped as one piece with a portion of the roof support which means I need to decide on the best spot to join them together and not make a mess of it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2016 08:37AM by Eric Ewert.

So I got a question for who ever cares enough to read this... has anyone tried to refit a proper parking brake to a car with a entirely different axle? I was pondering the thought of trying to refit the standard Volvo stuff to the Toyota axle but im unsure if it would be overly difficult and also prove to be problematic when subjected to gravel showering it constantly. Anyone tried?

I know you can get simple parking brake calipers, there not exactly cheap from wilwood the last time I looked. Also have no idea if they would cause problems.

Im only thinking of this simply because if need be I would like the thing to pass an inspection if it had to. Also it would be nice to park the car and have zero concerns of it rolling away.

Are you using a hydraulic hand brake by chance?
What's needed to pass inspection in the area?
Fitting the stock parking brake seems like an awful lot of work just to pass an inspection somewhere. As far as longevity goes, we ran a stock parking brake on the 242 rally car for 2 seasons without it getting mangled.

Also, you're cruising on the repairs man!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/2016 03:20PM by Robert Culbertson.

Quote
Eric Ewert
So I got a question for who ever cares enough to read this... has anyone tried to refit a proper parking brake to a car with a entirely different axle? I was pondering the thought of trying to refit the standard Volvo stuff to the Toyota axle but im unsure if it would be overly difficult and also prove to be problematic when subjected to gravel showering it constantly. Anyone tried?

I know you can get simple parking brake calipers, there not exactly cheap from wilwood the last time I looked. Also have no idea if they would cause problems.

Im only thinking of this simply because if need be I would like the thing to pass an inspection if it had to. Also it would be nice to park the car and have zero concerns of it rolling away.

Quit over-excessively and worrying to an exaggerated degree of excessivness.
(You pull hand brake AND leave the car in gear--take reasonable percautions...It rolls away, then it was the Will of God.

And you deserve it.

Relax. Can't do anything about pre-destination.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

uhhhh just deleted what I wrote. Can't help but to notice it seems you cant find anything that resembles a parking brake in a whole lot of rally car interior pics from all over the world.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2016 01:15AM by Eric Ewert.

What about using a bungee cord or a small cable loop that hooks on the hand brake handle when it's pulled back.

If you want your rallycar to roll across service when there is a slight slope and run into other competitors cars/trailers, then yes, you could do that... Its not ideal though. And then you'll get a big nasty letter from Keith about it, even as an act of god after having put the car into gear, and be on probation.

NOT THAT IM BITTER ABOUT IT

Edit-

Eric, what inspection are you referring to? There aren't any required inspections in berta. If your insurance company is asking for one, get a different (and better) insurance company. Or pay a "mobile inspection" guy $60-$80 to come to the car and sign the paper.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2016 07:05AM by dreamsofjvl.

One of the issues I've always had with the installation of Hydro Handbrakes is the fact that it typically eliminates the redundancy of a separate mechanical handbrake. Cut the brake lines going to the back (happens fairly often) and suddenly no handbrake.

We've also seen several instances in the past few years of a hydro handbrake being set and locked on a car that has been left running (stopped on stage, or at an arrival control) where the brake fluid has cooled enough to effectively release the brakes. In at least two of those instances people were very nearly hit and injured by the unexpectedly moving car.

This is all part of why I don't understand the fan-boi fascination with adding a Hydro-handbrake that - if you know how to drive - will almost NEVER be used on stage on most of the roads we have, particularly at the speeds most of us run on them.

That doesn't particularly answer your question Eric, but I support the idea of returning a mechanical handbrake to the car!

---

First Rally attended (2000), First Rally competed in (2001)
Cars Built (1), Engines Built (0) Cages Built (0)
Driver (8), Co-Driver (47), Drivers (19)
Clerk (29), Steward (1), Official (17), Volunteer (5)
WRC Spectator (1), WRC Photographer (6), WRC Observer (4)
Rallies attended (120) Countries attended rallies in (11)
Last Updated, May30, 2022

Its an idea at this point but it would be nice for a few reasons... I have found putting it in gear while parked will not hold it if the hill has a decent grade... regardless of which gear you leave it in.
I also agree with the hydro handbrake being unneeded for most cases. Its been added to my car solely because of the axle swap.

On a totally separate note does anyone have experience with replacing the b pillar/ rocker? Im having problems getting things lined up properly (b-pillar/rocker are clamped into place at this point, NOT welded)
Seems the rear door is happy in its spot, gaps are good and seals up properly but the front door sits to close to the b pillar, as a result the lock mechanism on the door interferes with the latch on the b pillar.
-the front door is adjusted as far forward as possible. Any suggestions? Im sitting here ready to do the final fitment (cut away the last bit of overlap between the front and rear of the rocker, where it meets the rest of the car) but im not wanting to make cuts without knowing that is actually fits. Trouble is the overlap may be apart of this fitment issue but without knowing I rather not remove material.