Last Friday my son rear ended another car with our '90 240. Did a lot of damage to all the plastic parts in the front (grill, headlights, signal lights, etc) but really did no structural damage to the car.

I need to get a couple of new headlight brackets since the originals disintegrated. I am in the rust belt and always have trouble removing the 10mm nuts that attach the brackets. The heads of the bolts only sit in the plastic portion of the bracket and are never hold the bolt from turning. I have yet to find a way to remove these without destroying the bracket.

If anyone has any tips for removing these without damaging them, I plan a trip to the junkyard this Saturday in hopes of scoring a couple of these brackets. Cutting the nuts off with a grinder isn't practical since they are pretty inaccessable from engine compartment.

Thanks in advance.

 

How about those paperclip like clips? Those parts drive me bat crazy. I too could benefit from some responses here.

 

when I replaced the headlights and mounting brackets on our 87 240 (big TV screen headlights), if I remember correctly, they were bolted to the metal car frame from behind with 3 or 4 bolts and nuts. the old brackets were pretty much crumbling anyways, so I just busted off what I had to and ended up trashing the bolts too. I think one or two had to be removed by dremel. I then replaced the whole mess with the aftermarket ones from IPDusa or FCPGroton... if I remember correctly, the new ones didn't come with the nuts, so save as many of those nuts as you can. absolutely use 6 point combo or sockets, and not 12 point on stuff like this (12 point wrenches hold the nuts by the corners, 6 point hold the whole nut by its faces).


(before some minor body work due to me tail ending a small pickup truck mid intersection when he abruptly stopped for an erratic bicyclist)

 

Yeah, my brackets pretty much busted off as well - due to the accident. I was hoping to salvage ones from the junkyard when I go pulling parts. I need a whole front apron (the body piece that is bent you your picture) and you would think I could just leave the brackets on when I pull the apron. However, the turn signal lights are mounted to the bracket and they cover up one of the bolts that need to be removed to pull the apron.

A dremel tool would be nice to cut the bracket nuts off, since I don't have one, plus there is no power in the junkyard, I think I am pretty much out of luck.

Looks like I'll have to settle for the replacements from FCP

Thanks for the replies...

 

that bottom apron piece was welded on my car, not bolted. the body shop replaced the apron, the top cross plate, and one of the headlight back plates, filled and painted, came out looking like new. I brought them the car without trim or bumper, and reinstalled all that myself when it was done, saved a couple hours of their labor at $100/hr.

 

Apparently the apron is not welded on the newer 240s. Instead they use 2 rivets to hold it in. I have had an '89, '90 and '91 240 and each had this piece riveted.

I plan on replacing the whole thing myself. Probably won't even paint it. I am just too cheap.

 

I would not bother. These are impossible to get off without breaking them. You can get new ones on eBay for $18. A worthwhile investment. I use a dremel tool to cut them off. Faster and worth the savings in grief.

 

Found a donor vehicle in the junkyard this past weekend. It had the whole front apron with good headlight brackets. The headlight brackets it seems are interchangable (right vs. left). Since I couldn't remove the brackets and they need to come off in order to get the turn signal light off (which hides access to one of the bolts holding the apron on), I just busted off the turn signal bracket. This allowed me to pull the whole apron off without removing the headlight bracket.

Once at home, I used my grinder to get the headlight bracket bolts off. Then I swapped the brackets left-to-right. Now I am good to go.

 

what kind of head do the bolts have? flat, phillips, allen, nothing, ? i too have tried to remove my headlights only to realize the bolts dont come off

 

the headlight brackets on my 87 240 have studs out the back, which are attached via nuts on the back side of the body panel.

before:


after:

 

The brackets are bolted to the front apron using regular hex bolts. When I did the surgery on our car I replaced the originals with stainless steel bolts I picked up from the local hardware. With all the salt they use on the roads here in the midwest, I find that stainless will always allow me to remove them in the future.

I'm not good with bolt sizes but it is the standard 10mm socket that is used for both the nut and the hex end of the bolt. You can pick them up at your local hardware store.

 

okay. i want to get the euro spec headlights but dont have the money for that right now, which is why i wanted to take the lights off, unseal the lenses clean inside them and seal em back up..but from what im hearing its more of a you take it off you replace it type gig.

 

If you're looking to make them clear again, you can do that without taking them out. There is several products out there that are basically very fine sandpaper along with a polish to finish them. This will make them clear again but it lasts for about a year and you have to do it again.

If you need to re-seal them, you might also be able to do it without removing the assembly (I haven't tried). If you can get your lenses off, just use some sort of silicone caulk to re-seal them. The difficulty is holding the lenses on while the caulk dries.

Good luck

 

I used one of those polish kits on a couple of our cars, and 6 months later, they were just as yellow as before I started and starting to haze up again.

meh. was a lot of work, even using the Mothers polishing ball on my cordless drill. and really messy, the polish stuff went everywhere.

 

ive used them as well, and it unfortunately didnt do much at all. i mean, its smooth and clean, i need to get insode them though, its all inside the lenses. i believe someone may have removed them and half assed resealed them, cos theres condensation all inside them.
i geuss i should just save up for the euro spec headlights!

 

or just get these...

Volvo Head Light Assembly Left (240 244 245) 1372106 | FCP Euro
(aftermarket)
or
TascaParts.com
(OEM)

(and the corresponding other sides)

 

oh wow, thats a lot cheaper than the assembleys on IPDUSA. thats why i wanted the glass ones, if i was already spending 110$ on one side i might as well get the glass ones. those headlights you showed me are hella clean lookin tho, the aftermarket ones..probly gonna have to go ahead and add them to my cart:P
thanks, btw.

 

I'm not sure where you can find glass ones for late 240's short of finding some e-code euro lights, which were never sold in the US.

 

i found em on this website..theyre spendy but they look so damn sexxy:P
Volvo 240 E-Code Complete Headlight Kit Upgrade