Volvo RWD 200 Forum

This is most definitely my greatest hurdle as a brick owner -
installing a tach and speedo gear were nothing compared with what i
face now. Front end smashed into someone elses car, typical highway
BS. Crossmember needs to be replaced, along with headlights, turn
signals, and technically the AC most likely. My plan is to go to the
Pick Your Parts half off sale and buy all of those pieces for my 1986
245, maybe the hood, but not actually the AC (I don't know what i'll
do with that, it's the older kind that no mechanic wants to touch with
a ten foot pole, but i'll worry about that later).

Anyways, my most pressing question for the moment is getting the hood
up again. I got the hood off at the beginning, then after straitening
out the crossmember a bit to get the radiator fan hood off of the fan
(so that it could spin freely), I slammed the hood back down so that i
could do some driving. NOW IT WON'T OPEN AGAIN. The locking
mechanism clicked, but when I pull the lever to release the hood, I
don't feel that tell-tale unlatching occur, and now the hood is just
stuck. How can I get it unhooked again? Bear in mind that the whole
grill and crossmember is very very ugly looking and I have unique
access to various parts and areas that I wouldn't normally (i.e. I can
see and touch the cable in its housing just before it enters the
locking area behind the grill).

secondly: anyone know which parts for the 1986 are interchangeable
with other years' models? I presume, due to the headlight style, that
86 through 89 will suffice, at least with headlights and turn signals,
grille, hood, radiator, and crossmember. I'd like to know if the
blinkers from an earlier year will work though (they look like they
might), as well as radiator fan cover and maybe even crossmember.

thirdly: I forgot what the third one was.

anyways, thanks for all your help!!

i rebuilt a '90 after the previous owner's son took it over a parking barrier... i was able to salvage parts off my '86 for some things, which, if i needed them, would have included the body panels and hood...

if you are talking about the crossmember (on which the engine mounts) which sits behind the rack, you can get one from a yard... however, they have to be careful how they torch it... there are a couple of welded bolts that stay with the crossmember... i found this out the hard way! and had to wait until they got another brick in to replace it... there are only four bolts that hold the cross member in... look on the frame inside the wheels from the top... two on each side... if the crossmember needs replacing, the rack does as well... plus your tie rod ends...

you'll need to check the engine mounts and also the transmission mounts for damage... they are designed fail points for collisions...

if you can get one, get a crossmember with the a-arms attached - replace your bushings before you mount it (vising gets a bit interesting, but you have much better access...

best way to check parts interchangeability... visit fcpgroton.com, and look up the parts... they will tell you the years they work for...

best of luck!
curiousheights




--
'84 244, Peter, never drove. Robbed to fix Paul, '86 244 - drove for 2 years; holey saint now, passing parts to Paul Jr, '90 244, now driving. Friends w/ '90 245, jokingly aka Mary, (pregnant sedan & completes PPM trilogy). Daughter to unnamed '90 745.

pushed down on the hood while someone pulled the lever, and did every combination thereof regarding holding the hood down while the lever pulled and released, held then released the hood with the lever down, etc.

any other ideas or should I just unscrew the hood's spring and latching mechanism?

Unscrew it !

My car was wrecked and repaired before i got it. The hood was just a little bent and they did not replace it. When I tried to realign it to make it fit better the latch pin hooked on the radiator support and would not open.

Remove the little splash shield between the bumper and the bottom of the radiator support. Pry or whack the latch pin so that it goes back to the center of the hole. You might have to have someone pull on the release cable to get it out.

Greg

You need 3 hands to release the hood. 2 to push down on the latch points and one to pull the lever at the same time. It is just on there too tight for the cable to release the catches.

The damage doesn't sound toooo severe. Find a compressor from a 1991-92 if yours is damaged.

If you can, remove all of the known bad parts first so you know which replacement parts to get. A few bent parts can be straightened. Also, that way you know which tools to bring with you.

Klaus
--
Common sense trumps a PhD

Thanks Klaus. But i don't know if i'm missing something because it seems like there is only one latch point, not two, ero i only need two hands, one for the hood, the other for the switch, although they will have to belong still to two differnt people, considering the distances between each spot. where is the other latch point beside the one in the center of the hood?

thank you

You need to press down on the hood right on top of where the latching pin is with both hands. You are trying to compress the spring that surrounds the latching pin. The second person is needed to pull the lever inside the car while you are pressing down. Once the lever is pulled all the way, take your hands off the hood and hope it opens.

jorrell
--
92 245 250K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!

I don't know if you can get the front grill off mine was broken.
I have been able to stick a screwdriver up into the pin lock and pry it open, while the hood release is being pulled. First you need to figure what direction it is grabbing, then pry the other way. Unfortunately this would have to be done from the underside of the radiator support.
I have put a 240'91 front on a 245'89. and a 240'88 on a '91. The first I hit a deer, the second slid on ice. The worst part was the 2 rivets to pop, or drill. I drilled then used screws. Everything else only needs a wrench.

One more thing pre'91 AC hoses run in front of radiator(in the way), the later sty in the engine compartment

You are correct that '86-'89 will interchange. Here is a little tip about what parts are called---if by "crossmember" you mean the part that goes across the front when you open the hood--that is the "radiator support". The crossmember is the part that the lower suspension bolts to and supports the motor. If you have the parts that fit, it's not such a big deal. Everything unbolts except for possibly a spot weld at each top front corner of the lower valance-drill it or chisel-your choice. You can even swap out from an earlier model (maybe less $) such as I recently did with a light front collision on a 1989 245--because I already had the front from an '83 245. The hood sits lower at the rear edge and there's a gap between the corner lamps ('89 fenders) and earlier bumper--and it involved a little more work because the back panel behind the headlights has to be changed - but for this particular car--who cares? Figure 2 weekends of work/partying. Good luck--Dave