caring about a volvo 262c bertone

Hello!

I'm a new member of the group and a new owner of a volvo 262. I'd like to ask a few questions about maintenance and other stuff to more experienced owners of this car.

So, the car I bought is a '78 model from sweden. automatic gearbox, all equipment original, all looks great and new. i've read on the forums a few 'problem' issues with this car. namely, the camshaft wear on the engine, the rusting so forth. i intend to preserve this car in a good condition (as it was bought) and therefore am asking for tips on the routine maintenance on the car as well as some suggested improvement on it.

about the camshafts- is regular oiling enough? how often should that be done? what oil should be used/is absolutely neccessary - synthetic or is mineral enough? i read about improved oiling on the engine by creating additional leaks into the engine. what exactly is done? how difficult/expensive is that to do? are there any trade- offs for this?

sorry about a dumb question - what routine jobs can be done to prevent rust before it hits the car? (i do intend to drive in rain, snow) i mean, currently its rust-free (the previous owner has been caring) and i'd like to stick to that.

any other suggested 'improvement jobs' on anything on the vehicle?

a few quesitons on the usage:

doesn't this model include a fog light? i have had a 240 before and they all had, when bough this car i didn't pay attention; however now i discover that there is no switch. on the switchboard there are to switches for windows, two for seat heating, one for airconditioning, one for hazard and one key for regulating the light on the speedometer panel, but none for foglight!

dumb question again - when i read it's a vinyl roof, i thought it would be vinly like the long players, but to me it looks like leather. it maybe vinyl under it, but why is it called vinyl then? could it be that it should have been vinyl but now it's covered with leather? could it be that the material i think is leather, is actually vinyl? any other explanation? i don't have another car to compare to.

what is the switch left of the steering wheel on 'the part that hold the steering wheel' (don't know how it's called) for?

the lighting of the saloon - how do you change from that 'pointer- light' to the 'normal' light?

sorry for being so long. if anyone is kind to answer anything of this. i'd greatly appreciate that.

regards,

Ingars

Reply to
Ingars
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Hi, Ingars. For preserving your engine, you should change oil every 5000km.. You should use synthetic oil, and one with viscocity (not very thick oil!). The thing, is that the oil-canals inside the engine, are very tiny and therefore might get clogged. Then the camaxle wont get enough lubrication and therefore wear out excessivly.

If the engine fails, you can think about fitting the b280 instead, as that's an improved version, but still a v6, so it wont be a "fake child". As for the rust: wash it often in winter, fix chipped paint, etc.

Some places on the 240's rust more than others: spare wheel whells, also the "canals" (beneath the doors, you have to open and spray with techtyl made for body of the car.. very sticky stuff).. Also remember to keep the paint in good condition, dont wax it in sunshine, but wax in the shades..

Congrats with a classy ride!

s>Hello!

Reply to
Olav Alexander Mjelde

AFAIK the camshaft trouble was caused by a series of camshafts which had the asymmetric profile ground on backwards. This type of problem should show up early in the engine's life

Reply to
M-gineering

Then I would say you are misinformed. I had a 265 first with B27E which I replaced with a B28E. The B27, regardless of A or E model, definitely had insufficient lubrication on the camshaft which was improved on the B28. Furthermore the problems on the B27 was made worse by Volvos service recommendations, 15000 km, whereas changing oil every 5000 km improves the lifespan of the camshafts.

Johan Plane Uppsala, Sweden

Reply to
Johan Plane

The unofficial factory excuse for the camshaft/rocker/rockershaft problem, was to blame everyone but the designers. The B27-28 motors are

98% Renault and 2% Volvo. Originally designed as a V8 in 1974 it was shortened to the 90* uneven fire V6 design an introduced in the European market, I believe in 1975. Volvo was expanding rapidly and spent time investigating the production of P200 chassis cars in the US in Chesapeake, VA.

The uneven fire characteristics, mainly rough idle, of the motor were as immediately unpopular with the American market as was the first uneven fire Buick V6 in 1962. American mechanics thought that a proven bad idea from years before was a joke. The US version with the twin plenum CI injection was miserable to work on. The plumbing was atrocious, with the ignition layout not far behind. The French idea of using oil pressure to tension the skinny little timing chain proved to be a bad idea as well. Whenever the motor is started there is a delay in oil reaching the top of the motor since the cam delivery galley drained back through the tensioner channel.

Since 1976 was a heavy production year, it lasted from the August changeover in 1975 until May or June of 1977, the ability to provide parts from various vendors was stressed to the max. In order to acquire enough camshafts and rockers, it seemed anyone who could grind cams or cast rockers was tapped to provide them. Hence an inconsistency in the metallurgy among suppliers and among parts led to the initial rash of premature camshaft failures. By 1982 the camshaft problem was essentially solved.

By the time the B280 arrived nearly all the oiling and heat dissipation problems had been addressed and cured as well as the development of the offset crank journals that allowed an even firing motor. Volvo redesigned the heads with a taller internal baffle to retain more oil around the cam shaft when the motor was stopped. This also helped conduct heat away from the rockers and the cam to stop the oil from smoking and coking under the valve covers. The LH injection stopped the overinjection of fuel during warmup that showed up as severe to moderate fuel dilution in as few as 3000 miles. With the service interval at 7500 miles the oil was inadequate as a lubricant by less then half the recommended oil changing distance. Couple that with mechanics enrichening the idle mixture to help smooth the idle and it became no surprise that the cams suffered an early demise. Credit the French with buiding a bottom end that was unbelievably stout and seldom failed. Most likely due to the motor's design used in the 2.4L turbo configuration in the group 6 Alpine prototype cars and the continued development in the Renault chassis F1 1.5L turbo iron block versions (the iron block was identical to the aluminum block, it's just that the engine was a sressed member in the F1 chassis and the aluminum block simply wasn't rigid enough to handle the loads of the rear suspension and drive train).

Bob

Reply to
User

To minimize rust, keep it washed and waxed.

Use the hose to regularly flush accumulated dirt and grit from the wheel well / fender area, and make sure all drains are free running.

Reply to
zencraps

thanks a lot for the tips.

still curious about the vinyl roof and the foglight, though - could anyone please comment?

snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net wrote:

Reply to
Ingars

  1. Vinyl roof. It's leather look-alike but it is vinyl = plastic. Should be treated with cleaner/conditioner for vinyl, no waxing and avoid high water pressures when washing car.
  2. Foglight. At least on the european cars, there were no foglights whatsoever as standard, but could be ordered as extra. The wiring for rear foglights is already there. I beleive the reason why they omitted foglights in the front was that the space where they would have been fitted, i.e. in the front spoiler, was occupied with ventilation slots necessary to pass air to front brake disks.

Johan

Reply to
Johan Plane

thanks, Johan

that satisfies my > >

Reply to
Ingars

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