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I had been wanting to change up the look of the front of my 240, beyond the amber Volvo truck turn signal lenses (purchased here), while maintaining Volvo authenticity. My current grille had a chip on one corner, and it's also a prominent part of the front end, so I figured it was ripe for switching out.
Discouragingly, I don't have a lot of grille options here in the States. Most '86-'93 240s have a chrome slotted grille. Some cars from the final years, I think from 1992 and 1993, did get an all-black version of the chrome grille, and I've heard that there were some done completely with chrome, though I can't recall seeing any.
A friend had a later 240 with an all-black grille, so I had been scheming to switch our grilles. However, her car was handed off to her brother and she got a mid-'80s BMW 325e instead.
I checked online to see if there were other variations on the grille and I discovered that a 1983-1989 740 Turbo Eggcrate grille could fit in a 240. Thanks to Dave Barton, I recently came to be in possession of one of those very grilles.
So, after a false start earlier this week, I finally got things together to get the grille installed. I mostly followed the instructions here, with only a few deviations from that parts list and plan. I spent about $3 at Lowe's getting the assorted nuts, bolts, and washers.
The end result is above. The grille is pretty snug, though it can still move a little. However, it is not in any danger of falling out. The driver's side bottom is a little farther back than the other side, and if everything weren't in so tightly I might try to readjust it. Right now, I'm going to leave things--there are some heavy duty bolts in that front end. I hope my mechanic never has to take the grille out unexpectedly.
Since there was excellent weather this afternoon, I took the opportunity to take several other "glamor" shots, in addition to those above. When I get them resized and uploaded I'll post a link to a page containing the pictures, for those of you who like looking at old Bricks!
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'89 244 GL -- 105,411 miles (see profile for info on car)
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