Hey guys,
i recently bought a 88 245 wagon for $400. Had lots of surface rust on the lift gate and around the wheels. I will post a few pics of start and now...it is still in progress. does anyone know where to buy volvo color match paint for cheap? or wheel spacers? i am thinking lowered wagon with large black wheels and exhaust.
Thanks for looking at this.

Hey, Dave

At this point it looks like you might as well scrap the touch-up paint idea, though it's hard to get a sense of the overall condition of the rest of the paint. For the cost and effort involved in all the areas you may want to clean up, a complete respray might be the better idea. I've gone down the patchy paint path a few times and am never satisfied.

The spacers can probably be had cheaply on eBay still, though you get what you pay for. If you've got the choice of hubcentric bore, I would suggest Volvo on the hub side (obviously) and the smallest you can get on the wheel side, because you can get a centering ring from anything to anything else. If you go with 5x114.3 bolt pattern on the wheel side you'll have a zillion wheel options in the aftermarket. The best procedure is to find your wheels first and then build an adapter to make them fit properly, though.

Good luck!

p.s. - please try to resize your pictures to a maximum of 1024 wide, if you don't mind.

Have to agree with Matt, you have so much touching up to do might as well respray. The DS fender has been obviously replaced, and from the look of the PS fender I would just look for a replacement at PnP as well. If you could find a rust free hatch from a later car at PnP I would do that as well, this perspective is from someone who does rust/damage repair by replacing the offending panel. I haven't been to the local PnP in Lethbridge for awhile, but we had a 245 with a nice hatch. It's blue so would need repainting, but it's rust free and straight if memory serves me... You could get a fender as well, again if it's still there.

Good luck with the resto.

ETA: Not trying to be a downer but for not much more money the car below looks like a much better starting point and will be cheaper in the long run than doing rust repair/repainting. It's also a very rare/desirable color combo for a 240 with the 601 red over black.

http://alberta.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicle ... Z528670818

Only issue is i have got the wagon already...can't go back on that now! Thanks for the input though. I already have 17 in odysseus rims for it. which i purchased from a relative. Anyone know what size of tires i can fit if i lower it about 2 inches on the front and 1 in on the rear?
Thanks.

You can get whatever you like stuffed up under that car. I've got 215 50 17's on Tethys in the rear with 25mm spacers and it's fine. My winters rub on one side (at least they did until I fixed the lip)...so when lowering a car with this style of rear suspension, make the panhard rod and torque rods adjustable. I've never bothered, but it would solve the rub issue. At this point my arms and bushings have found a home and don't squeak or cause trouble, so I didn't bother, but I should.

Done properly, 255's have fit on other's cars...not that you'll need them on your build. Just sayin.

Hey guys,
Just bought a 740 turbo with hydras and good tires. have added them to the 240 and the looks have improved drastically. chopped springs now as well so it is lower. Still have to do paint though.
Just a quick question, does anyone else have issues with their 240's steering? Mine cluncks when i do a quarter turn either way. Does anyone know what is causing this?