If there's anyone here what's done bodywork on the front of an old-fashioned 240, before 1986, I have a question. When I tried to take off the lip on my front clip, the piece of metal above the bumper and below the grill that the headlight bezels and grill mount to, I discovered that it had been glued in place, one end was glued to the left wing under the turn signal, the other glued to the right wing, and it was glued in spots to the interior wall to which the headlights are mounted. Not welded, but very definitely glued, which seemed redundant being as it was bolted in place too. My question is is it supposed to be like this? Was gluing the front clip together something they did on the early models? Am I going to go to the junkyard and find that I can't separate the pieces of the front clip from any 240? This seems like something a body shop did at some point because they were stupid, or maybe something a previous owner did to stop rattles. I'd be very disappointed in Volvo if this is just what they did to every 240, it makes it hideously difficult to replace a part that's very easy to damage, especially now that everyone else's bumper is at hood ornament and grill height.

 

I've taken a lot of these apart and have never seen one glued on.The lip comes from the factory with a couple of spot welds on each side.Maybe someone replaced it and glued it on instead of spot welding.


Dan

 

I know what you're talking about. I'd been told that somwhere along the way Volvo went from bolting/"gluing" these together to spot welding them. Somehere around '86 or '87, if I remember correctly. I took my '82 apart there when I rebuilt the engine and I remember thinking the same thing you are. I don't know why they did that other than the possibility of what you already said about rattling. It's the same on the top panel that the radiator brackets bolt to. if you go to the junkyard, you might want to bring along a carpet knife and a putty knife to deal with that if you run into that. I believe it's a Volvo thing. Good luck!

 

Can you recommend a solvent? (I am not concerned with the paint, the replacement body part I find is unlikely to be the right color)

 

I would use a very small chisel to separate the fender from the pan,the fender lip is only about 1 1/2" under the lip.I have included a pic of the front lip of my 82 242 showing were they are spot welded.Car still has the original paint.


Dan