93 Volvo 240 Pickup Build

A few years ago I started a build thread for turning my Volvo 745 into a pickup. Surprisingly that went nowhere. I am now better equipped with space to work and the build is finally going to happen, except now it is a 245. 

I bought this 93 240 at an auction for $275 and daily drove it for a few months while my other cars were down. It isn't in terrible shape but it also isn't great so I don't feel bad about cutting it up. 

Today I changed the oil in the Merkur and filled it with coolant. After that I didn't have any plans so I decided it was time to start on this. We stripped the interior behind the front seats and removed the glass and hatch. 

Next weekend the cutting will begin after I carefully lay out where it should be cut and mentally prepare to cut straight lines. 

Starting to strip the interior:

Pile of parts:

End of progress for today:

Inspiration:

I know I am doing this backwards since last challenge was the pickup class and this year is wagon class. I have a wagon planned for that though. 

The plan when it is done is to paint it Swedish Racing Green. 

Saw a bunch of these when we were in Sweden. Can’t wait to see the build on this! 

So, blue?

In reply to hobiercr :

Yes, as close to the polestar blue as I can get.

This looks fun!

EvanB said:

 

Today I changed the oil in the Merkur and filled it with coolant. After that I didn't have any plans so I decided it was time to start on this.

I read that wrong. My first thought was what the hell dump the coolant and put oil back in there before you ruin the engine. 

hobiercr said:

Saw a bunch of these when we were in Sweden. Can’t wait to see the build on this! 

So, blue?

There is a reason for that too - they can be registered as tractors and let you drive before 16.  I can't find the article now, I think it was a Jalopnik piece.

Stampie said:

EvanB said:

 

Today I changed the oil in the Merkur and filled it with coolant. After that I didn't have any plans so I decided it was time to start on this.

I read that wrong. My first thought was what the hell dump the coolant and put oil back in there before you ruin the engine. 

Who needs an oil cooler when you can just use coolant instead of oil?

Nitroracer said:

hobiercr said:

Saw a bunch of these when we were in Sweden. Can’t wait to see the build on this! 

So, blue?

There is a reason for that too - they can be registered as tractors and let you drive before 16.  I can't find the article now, I think it was a Jalopnik piece.

Yes, or actually, drive before you're 18 (our drivers licence age). These tractors are also one of the few car projects where you actually can make money. Take a 500 dollar Volvo (740 or 940 is the preferred option now), make it into a 2-seater "pickup" with dual gearboxes (to get the total ratio low enough), blow it over with some paint, and then you can sell it for between 3000 and 6000 dollars.

A neighbour kid built a number of these between 15 and 18 (while driving his own MR2* tractor) and made enough money to get a 2015-ish Camaro as his first car at 18.

* The MR2 was actually a cool build, and got around the "pickup" rules since there is a rule saying that if you have 60% of the weight on the driven wheels you don't ned the truck bed

Gustaf

Sweet build! We will have to get them together when you are done!

Me doing truck stuff just yesterday:

In reply to Robbie :

Definitely. Reading your build thread was part of what convinced me I need to finally build one of these. 

Did you use anything to fill in the door gap before welding them up or did you just fill the gap with weld?

Have you had any issues with water collecting under the bed floor? Did you add any drain holes?

In reply to EvanB :

We tried to take some strips of sheet metal and jam in in the doors to weld, but I'm not sure it helped. It is a big gap for welding, and what we did was not pretty. We did leave the door latches and stuff in the doors for extra support, and in fact when you lock and unlock the doors now the bedsides still lock and unlock..

Water does pool in the back in the spare tire well. But it drains reasonably well, I just pulled out the rubber body plugs down there. I'm sure some well placed holes would do better for drainage, but then you have to re-paint or something. Bigger drainage problem is the sunroof. I left it functional so it can tip up (no AC), but that means I need to seal the rear sunroof pan well. Which is hard.

I'm considering redoing the back window and surrounding metal anyway, but I have maintenance and leak fixes and engine tuning that needs to happen first.

Ok... I need one of these.

What?  We've got to wait a WHOLE WEEK to see pictures of the cutting!?  I can't wait to see this

Well I might get excited and do some cutting this week after work but it isn't likely. I will probably lay out tape for the cutting lines and get ready for it. 

After work today I went out to do some measuring and laying out tape where I want to cut. 

The rear I will cut a little longer than what is marked here. The plan is to use my flanger to hopefully flange the sheet metal on the rear section to slide under the front section. I think it should work better than trying to butt weld the sheet metal across the whole roof. The rear section with tailgate will slide forward to make the back of the cab. 

Here is the mark for the front cut. If I cut it so the rear of the cab is just behind the seats while they are as far back as they can go it will give me a 5.5 foot bed. 

I plan to weld square or rectangular tube across the door openings level with the bed floor so I can weld a cross-piece in. It will hopefully strengthen the rear along with welding the doors closed along with giving me something to tie the bed floor into. 

I want to add some thicker plates to tie the tube into on the door frame. I'm not sure if the best way would be to notch out the seam or flatten it with a hammer. The door seal slid over the seam but that will not be going back in. 

Here it is from the inside with the door closed. I may have to clearance the inner door structure a bit. 

If I may offer a suggestion- food for thought-

I always like 2 door wagons (and the el Camino's I have owned) with the longer doors. Isit possible there is  2 door model you can grab the doors from, relocate the B post, to provide better access behind the seats?

I assume you will retain a smugglers box behind the seats under the bed, and it looks like you have a good shot at a rear mounted smugglers box also.

In reply to twentyover :

I did briefly think about that while we were stripping it. The  2 door 240s had longer doors. However, this is meant to be a quick, fun project and I feel like adding too much complexity is a good way to send it to project car purgatory in the back yard where it never gets finished. 

I have a challenge project coming up in a couple months that will be a larger undertaking and I want to get this one mostly finished by then. 

Teaser.

Awesome.

Woo!  Exciting!

Teaser #2. I'm heading out soon for a concert, I'll do a full write up tomorrow with more pictures. 

Cutting the roof off was the easy part. Now I have to make it look somewhat decent. 

I cut the rear section of the roof off to move it forward. Unfortunately it is just a little bit narrower than the cut at the front so it had to be cut it half so it could be widened about an inch. 

I added a length of 1" square tube in the top of the door, welded to the remaining window frame structure. This is what the rear of the cab will sit on and be welded too. I also added a bar in the rear door opening so I can weld a crossbar in to tie in the bed floor and rear cab. 

Before dinner I had to mock it up to see what it would look like. The rear ended up further back than I was planning. I initially was going to flange the sheet metal on the rear section of roof so it would slide under the front but that doesn't seem like the best idea anymore. Since I added that length in the measurements the rear window area seems a bit large. I may cut it down a little more to make the cab shorter. 

This is so damn cool. Keep up the good work!

Agree that it would probably look a bit better proportioned with another cut and smaller cab. Either way, really like your direction here.