Hi Everybody! My name is Charter and I have decided to make a build thread to track my progress. I bought DA BRICK on March 19, 2015 and it had 236,186 miles on the clock. I spent over 6 months going through CL alert after CL alert for a clean 245 to become my "practical" DD. At the time, my other vehicle was a Jeep TJ that I ran as a 2 seater in order to have a usable trunk vs. a tiny backseat and tiny trunk. On the 18th, DA BRICK was listed on CL and I was the 2nd quickest on the draw out of many inquiries. All I wanted to know was if the pictures were recent and if it ran/would I need to tow. I was able to meet with the seller before anyone else and I paid the $1,100 asking price without hesitation.

Original Ad and Photos:



Being a little OCD, I started to record everything that I did with DA BRICK. EVERYTHING:


On the drive back home, I noticed that the car had a little shimmy or wobble so I dropped it off to get looked over and do a rotate and balance (236,571). The next bit of maintenance I decided to tackle was an oil change but with a seafoam treatment beforehand (236,779). Not as much smoke came out of the exhaust as I was expecting but I took that to be a good thing. After driving it around on some hot days with the AC blasting, I noticed that when I was sitting at stop lights the temp gauge would start to creep up. I took this as a sign to order some worry free parts from IPD and FCP (237,057): Nissens Radiator, Aisin Tropical Fan Clutch w/ new nuts and bolts, Wahler 82C Thermostat, HEPU Water Pump, OEM Volvo Crankshaft Seals, 2 OEM Volvo Auxiliary/Layshaft Seals, Contitech Timing Belt & Tensioner, New Coolant Hoses and Contitech Accessory Belts.



More to follow...

 

Now that I had gotten the maintenance all up to date, it was time to do some non maintenance upgrades (237,603). Window tint and Kenwood head unit and speakers:


Two months later, it started to have missing issues on cold starts or after it rained...Bosch plugs and wires fixed the problem (243,566). The next issue came when I went in for my state inspection at the end of November (250,154). I needed to fix a faulty brake light (PITA) and new rear brake pads.

Overall, DA BRICK has been nothing but a beast. Hasn't left me stranded and I got it for a steal.

DA BRICK license plate claimed as soon as I got it home and registered.


Picked up some horse stall mat from TSC and cut it to fit the trunk. The dogs love it!



Random after wash pic:


E-Codes I installed this past weekend. Before:


After:

 

That thing is really clean even with the dog paw prints !! Nice job.

 

Haha thanks! I try my best to keep it clean. Hope to swap the interior for black or charcoal if I can find a set.

 

Instead of making a completely separate thread on something as sad as tearing down a 242GT, I am just going to use this thread to do the occasional update the tear down requires.

I purchased this 242GT sight unseen for $600 in Feb '15. My dad volunteered to help check it out and make the purchase for me. He was able to spot a lot of problems with the car which is how he was able to talk the guy down from $1,200. However, my dad did not realize how rusted out the floorboards were or the holes in the seats from where mice had made a home. The inside of the car was being used to store a lot of the parts and probably hide the holes. Needless to say, my intentions for the car quickly changed to parts car for my dad's 242GT and I considered using the front end to convert to round headlamps for DA BRICK.

The original ad:


Picking it up from my parents place:



Using the Jeep to move the trailer around the property to unload the Volvo onto my concrete pad:


Interior shots of starting point:




Yesterday, I spent my day tearing it down:



How I am storing the doors and hood until they are needed. All the other parts are being stored in the garage as well.



How it is sitting for now until I can finish it up. I hope to have it finished in another 1-2 days of working on it.


When I am finished, it will only be a shell but if anyone wants it, let me know. Otherwise, I am going to have it scrapped

 

Does anybody know of any parts that are worth transferring from my 78gt to my 245? I have the strut braces that I am going to clean and put on...

 

Above is a link to a video I put together for DA BRICK. It has been making some cringe worthy sounds and it has also been having a "looping" idle on cold starts.

I am pretty sure the noise is related to the ac compressor but I am not sure if it is something I can replace without replacing the whole compressor.

Not sure what the looping idle is from but it goes away once it is up to temperature.

 

DA BRICK has been running well over the past couple days. I did an oil change, adjusted the tensions on my belts and figured out why my passenger E-Code was popping in and out.


It is starting to do this funky windshield wiper thing. If I click down on the wipers, it will keep them on until I turn the car off when it normally just does three passes or something.

 

Nice. Very clean.

Someone might want the get she'll on turbobricks.com.

 

Thanks! I try to keep it as clean as I can.

I have posted the same over there and no one has been interested yet but I am also not finished stripping it. Once it is though, I plan on posting a separate thread over there to hopefully find someone willing to take something from it.

 

the wiper intermittent mode is controlled by a electronic relay module. if tis gone on the fritz, this could happen.

 

Thanks, I will have to check this out.

 

I figured out what my problem was for the windshield wipers. When I was making the wiring harness for the LED fog lights I plan on putting on soon, I used a grounding screw to mount the relay. Once I took the relay off and put the screw back, problem solved!

Going on family vacation next week and I will be going to my parents place early. I hope to get some footage of my Dad's 242 GT and post it up. He has been going over it and I can't wait to see how far he has gotten!

Here is some old footage of us starting it a long time ago after it had been sitting for...way too long haha.

 

Decided to make a little video and wiring diagram to give back to the community that has given so much to me. I wanted something simple that would allow me to test my new lights/light bar/accessories without actually going through the complete install first. Just in case the accessory did not work properly or as well as I had hoped. You hook up the positive and negative to the battery, then the positive and negative to the accessory and then flick on the switch, BOOM!

 

my do-it-yourself-accessory tester is a 12V 3AH sealed lead acid battery, and 2 clipleads don't need no relay or fuses, if I overload it, the wire gets to hot and I disconnect it, fast !

you can see it in use here,

(meter in series is reading milliamps)

 

I have to say that I don't honestly know what is going on in the picture but it looks over my head haha Good stuff Pierce! Is it allowing you to read how much the accessory is actually using?

 

yeah. meter is in milliamp mode and hooked up in series with the device under test, which is a R/G/B dimmer for a LED light tape. full brightness of red+green+blue draws a bit over 1 amp, while very dim for a single color is around 35mA (0.035 amps). completely switched off, it still draws about 0.020 amps. this LED tape bar (which is 1 meter long) is secured to the roof the camper shell on the back of my pickup truck to provide utility light. I am an amateur astronomer, so wanted dim red light for my astro nights to not ruin night vision...





works great!