Hi architectom,

Research the brickboard for answers to your questions.

The center console lights sometimes fail do simply to the little bulbs burning out of one of the connectors as disconnected. The center console light that illuminate the clock and the the thingies on the center console face are all connected and when they work, you can control brightness of all of them by using the dimmer pot to the left of the dash head. An exploration at your local self service auto salvage yard with Volvos of a similar vintage as yours allows you to collect bulbs like these for far less than a parts store new.

As for your lower OEM radio, research and acquire a suitable Volvo repair manual like the Bentley or Haynes manuals. If replacing a radio mounted at the lower position, four screws secure the faceplate to the center console metal frame. Two wing-nut screws secure the radio to either side of the radio housing.

Research the brickboard for car stereo vendors. I can't recall the name of the online car audio vendor most everyone raves about when upgrading their Volvo factory (or other radio) in their Volvo.

You 1982 has a dash that appears the same as newer 240s up to the end of the production run. However, your dash does not have the metal tab used by the Volvo factory radio as a theft prevention interlock that secures. That metal tab on the newer 240 dash also support the radio weight at the rear of the radio and fixes the position of the radio in the dash.

That's it! www.crutchfield.com

The place everyone raves about here on the brickboard when they are wanting to upgrade the Volvo stereo. The site has a tool where you choose you make and model and the tool provides car stereo model information, speaker mounting options, and installation kits to mate the stereo and speakers with the extant factory wiring harness. I've found preserving (or reusing) the factory stereo wiring harness is best as the wiring Volvo uses is much more durable than what comes with the speakers, unless the factory wiring is in bad shape of decomposing.

Questions? Comments?

Hope that helps.

MacDuff.