Not sure who remembers me but I've been a member since 2002 when I was a kid, now I got one of my own but I still kept my 1980 Volvo Bertone throughout the years. I stopped being loyal to the Volvo brand after driving my mom's S60 and have since become a big fan of the late 90's Lexus LS cars, but I always will remain loyal to the 200 series.

Originally I had planned to do a V8 conversion in the Bertone but I recently had the opportunity to buy a car that was very special to me. A good friend of mine and fellow Volvo enthusiast Gary Etie passed away a little over a year ago and his custom 245 wagon was left to his daughter. She was recently T-boned and at the insurance company totaled it out and I bought it from her. The passenger side is fine and all the wheels are good, still starts and moves on it's own with an odometer that stopped spinning somewhere around 334,000 miles so who know what she really has on her, plus she loaded with IPD goodies and a nice custom exhaust system.

Rather than the V8 swap, I'm going to take the guts out of the 245 and stick it in the Bertone and keep it all Volvo so I'm sure in the coming months you'll be seeing a lot more of me on here.

Just wanted to say hi to all the old Brick Boarders and introduce myself to the new ones. If anybody is in the Austin, TX area feel free to say hi or come help turn some wrenches and drink some beers!

-Gabo

Should be fun project and everything should bolt right in. Save the V6 stuff to help other PVR cars (I have 2 coupes). Don't scrap anything off of the wagon until you are COMPLETELY finished. GL!

I've given up completely on the PVR engine, that was such a piece of garbage, but I figure someone with a Delorean might need some parts. Need anything off there it still turns over and sputters with some starting fluid. It ran when parked I remember, but it ran like such a POS I vowed never to ever use or bother trying to get that motor to run right.

Yes, the early PRVs were a terrible thing, and from what I understand the late version is still a 4 star headache to work on. That being said, there are most likely some people out there that really need parts (ideally the whole, stinking, poorly engineered mess all at once) that you could drop it in the back of their pickup truck in exchange for a nice, crisp, handy $100.00 bill. That number includes all the ancillary stuff that you won't need for your conversion to the 4 banger, as well... good luck with the swap!

The PRV-6 is an overly complicated wee beastie. Yet the final years it did get the bugs and upper lubrication problems sorted. You see the start of that in the 1991+ PRV-6s in Volvo and onward through the early 21 century for the Renaults and Peugeots that may use them.

As it is a 1980 260 PRV-6, probably a B27, advertise it for sale all you can here on the brickboard classifieds, mayube the free iPd and turbobricks classifieds, yet you may make a little $ at the metal recyclers.

Some may want the Bosch L-Jetronic for PRV-6, though.

It may be nearly a plug and play swap from that 245, yet the engine support member from the 245 should fit into the 260 body.

As you are performing sort of an off-frame restore and drive train swap, you may want to treat 260 body undercarriage and blind compartment rust treatmant. Waxoyl may help, but POR-15 treatment and maybe bondo if bad.

Other than the low pressure fuel system side, you may be able to swap the high pressure line without having to crack open anything at all depending how you broach the matter.

Wire harness too.

May want to treat things like brakes, steering, suspension bushings and so forth. The 260 may have heavier (at least front) sway bar, yet the 245 will have heavier springs. If not damaged, you should be able to merely swap bodies and quite easily.

That's what I'd like to do ... get a 1993 240 with M47 II and the Bosch LH-Jet 3.1 or 2.4 (no 2.4 w/EGR) and swap it into an any year 242 or 262 (maybe the Bertone 262 C) body. Yet keep the heavier, less rusty bits on the 242.

The steering rack on either may be questionable. Inspect the drive shaft U-joints for play. After market replacements are questionable. You may want to verify the steering wheel support bearings are in fine fettle and lubed.

Also, you'll really want to take a look at the rear hub assembly. The Volvo 240/260 wheel bearings, like the front bearings, are lubed with NLGI-2 grease. The Volvo OEM hub grease tubes will be fine. Also, the rear parking brake shows can de-laminate (the parking brake show material separates from the metal brake show holder, or, the brake material turn to dust).

Clean and lube up cable like the safety brake cables with grease.

Use the better gas tank. Inspect them for rust. Same for the fuel senders.

Depending on the year of the 245, you may need to move the rear axle over two for speedo function and the vehicle speed sensor on the Bosch LH-Jet / EZK systems.

Drive shaft U-joints (or front coupler if M47 II)?

And the usual wear items.

Do your research.

Hope that helps.

Good luck. Sound like fun. Very cool to have a Bertone 262 C with a modern B230 and 240 drive train.

cheers,

Brickboard.Com LOL Kitty Junky
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Thanks for the tips. The 245 has nearly every IPD suspension component that was available installed on it, I will be removing and reselling whatever I don't transfer over to the Bertone.

I actually already installed the "V8" sway bars from IPD which I believe were the fattest ones they ever made, specifically for when the V8 conversion was popular and they aren't available anymore. Maybe they just named them the V8 sway bars for me, who knows. I'm pretty sure I bought the heavy duty springs for the bertone from IPD as well and hopefully I'll unearth them when I clean up the garage, if not I'll just take them off the wagon.

I'd like to transfer the dashboard from the 90's 200 series into my Bertone as I had already chopped up some of the dash to fit a screen in the car... yes I was rolling with DVD player and screens in my Volvo back in 2000 before everybody else was doing it.

I'm from TEXAS so we don't really have rust issues down here, an small consolation prize to having to put up with 100+ degree weather for 4 months out of the year. The only rust I have on there is in the normal places (wheel well and only on one side) and then around the trim piece on the top, which regular volvos don't have it was just on the coupe.