Tag Archives: volvo

Installing Front Door Speakers

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volvo-240-speaker-installedWhen I first bought the brick I tossed the cardboard speakers and plugged in a cheap set of Kenwoods. They never fit quite right, as the holes in the speaker panel don’t align with the holes in the speaker. They were only able to attach to the door panel, as the screws didn’t match the holes in the sheet metal. I mounted them with only 2 screws each and had crappy sound out of the crappy deck.

When I got a new deck I went through the torturous process of rewiring all 4 speakers. I pulled the door panels out, sound-proofed with RAAMat and closed-cell foam and installed a wooden frame for the speaker.
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A Grace Space

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This Volvo “is aimed at the most demanding of customers: the independent woman in the premium segment.” So states the narrator for “YCC: Your Concept Car”, a look at creating an automobile specifically for women. Not to be confused with Rush “YYZ”, or F.U.B.U. “For Us By Us”, the YCC has such innovations as paint that is “just like a non-stick frying pan” and no easy access to the engine compartment. I assume this means that an independent woman in the “premium segment” couldn’t be bothered to know what’s going on with the car.

Over the soothing tones of new-age electronic jazz we learn it’s a “tough car” but not “brutal”. According to one of the women on the design team:

“You’re not buying a technical product; you’re buying by emotions.”

At :53 is my favorite part. A zoned out woman with a sweater casually draped around her shoulders wakes to tell us what our first impression of the car will be: “A feeling of, uh, grace… and, uh, space.” But she’s totally grace-less, speaking slowly and staring bug-eyed into the void.

VIA Sociological Images

BONUS: Trip out to the ambient music on this YCC promo video. Turn up the speakers for 9 minutes of hot buzz.

New Blue Springs

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sportspringsThe ipd Sport Springs are installed now and they ride great. At left are the driver-side springs, new and old. I can’t believe how much shorter the new spring is when they’re unsprung. It made installation easier than removal because we didn’t need to compress the coil. The new spring was so much shorter that it slipped right in without much compression. On the ground the car now rides only about 2″ shorter in the front, not nearly as much difference as these uninstalled springs look.

New springs on all four corners took a little more than 3 hours with 2 people. My buddy Andy has a good set of jacks and stands and we used his dad’s impact wrench to tighten up the coil compressor. It was an uneventful installation; luckily there weren’t any stripped nuts or rusted bolts to contend with. I shot pics and video.

How many Bricks have to die for a mistake?

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The government released a listing of all cars traded in for the Cash for Clunkers program. I had admonished the Big Money for claiming the 240 was a Clunker. Turns out they were almost correct. According to Cars.gov, one particular model of one particular year has been deemed to have a fuel economy rating of 18 mpg. Huh? I’ve got to investigate…

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Interactive Brake Job

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I created an interactive how-to for changing the brake pads and rotors on a Volvo 240. Below is the step-by-step instructions. Consult a manual for more detail. I can’t be held responsible if you screw up and plow into your local 7-11 while stopping by for a 44oz Super Big Gulp of Cherry Coke.

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Paper Bricks

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I created these little paper models using templates from a site out of Sweden. I’ve searched for diecast metal 240s but Corgi and other European manufacturers stopped producing them a long time ago, and I don’t know if Matchbox ever did. These paper models are the next best thing, although they don’t roll, they’re 1:87 scale, and they blow away in a gust of wind.

Hokenstrom.com is self-described as

The official homepage for one of the oldest riding clubs with disabled riders in Sweden. And the only one with an own homepage!

There’s a huge range of models, from 100s, 200s, 300s, 700s and 850s, with variations of each by year, and different colors within each download. There are also alternative vehicles, like hearses, police cars and the odd El Camino-esque yellow 850 pictured above. If you’ve got tiny fingers they can be a fun little craft. My thick digits produced dented quarter panels, gaped seams and cars with only 3 tires touching the ground.

Saab vs Volvo

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saab_blowup… and Saab splits from Detroit first.

Truth About Cars has a great guest post from Stein X Leikanger documenting a marketing meeting during the continuing destruction of the “soul” of Saab under GM.

GM wanted Cross-Platform Synergies, and didn’t pay much attention to the individual brands. Just look at www.gm.com – I hate that place – they still think there is such a thing as a GM-car, at the expense of the individual brands, and they’re never going to abandon that mindset.

I wasn’t familiar with the “Saab versus…” ad campaign he mentions in the post, but a search for “Saab vs Volvo” pulls up this awesome clip from “Scorched Heat” of a 740t being chased by 900 series cop cars.