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Hey all.
Been wanting to dress up the interior of my volvo by putting in a new steering wheel. Is there anything i should know before buying an aftermarket steering wheel? (will it bolt on and fit ok without anything else needed?) Also what other things besides gauge upgrades have you done for looks. I was thinking carbon fiber around switches to dress things up. Any other ideas?
Anyone have pictures of their interior?
Thanks Geoff
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Speed-
One thing you have to watch out for is the offset or dish of the wheel and hub combination. IPD carried a custom wheel and hub many years ago that I installed, the problem was the wheel was flatter than stock and my knuclkes would drag against the dimmer and turn signal stalkes. When I called them to complain they suggested maybe I could bend the stalkes out of the way by using a heat gun on them. I chose to get a refund. Thats why I am now planning to update with a wheel from a later model Volvo.
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Bruce S. near D.C.
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There are a couple of links on my page to places that sell Momo products and list the hub adapter for the 240. Also try CFI Motorsports.
I added a Volvo leather cover to my stock steering wheel, and then I added a GT horn pad. It looks and feels better, and it only cost me about $30 total. The leather cover, which you could also buy from IPD, fits very tightly and it's sewn on, so it does not slide around at all. It's very high quality thick leather, which adds to the thickness of the steering wheel to give it a great feel.
I have the dark blue interior in my car, so I decided to change some of the trim to black. I have black door pockets, window cranks, center console, door latch trim, and speaker covers. I also added a black fabric dash cover to hide the massive cracks, and a pair of black leather headrest covers for the front seats. I have a DL, so it came with a rubber shift boot around the manual shift lever. I added a black leather boot from an older Volvo GLT/Turbo. It looks really sharp after I cleaned it up with black shoe polish and shined the brass snap at the top. The final touch was the Momo shift knob that I managed to squeeze onto the stock shift lever. It's the Race Air Leather model, which is a round knob with perforated black leather around the sides and bottom and a small Momo logo with an aluminum ring around it on the top.
I have a set of custom white gauge faces from Dave Barton that I'll install when I get a chance. The only two gauges I have installed now are a Volvo digital ambient temp gauge and a 52mm tach. When I get my large tach working again I'll eliminate the small tach in favor of an oil temp or pressure gauge. Whichever oil gauge doesn't go in the dash will go in a pod mounted on the dash to the left of the main cluster. I've got a small IPD sticker on the black trim just below the center vents (it's the "domed" plastic one). I removed the seat bracket from a spare drivers seat and installed it on the passengers seat in my car, so now both front seats are manually height adjustable. I also added a driver's side grab handle (above the door, where the covered holes are), but I rarely use it.
I think that's about all I've done to the interior. I'm planning to swap in power windows with black door panels and black armrests for the front only. I may also remove the rear seat and install black carpet from a wagon, which will cover more of the floor that's normally hidden beneath the rear seat. I'd also like to add some bolt on textured metal pedals (nothing fancy) because I've already worn out the IPD pedal pads I bought 2 years ago (I highly recommend these if you have worn pedal pads!).
Let me know if you have any questions about anything. I've got a few pictures of some individual items, but no pics of the current interior of my car.
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Volvo 240 Links
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All aftermarket steering wheels will require some sort of hub adapter. I had a helluva time chasing one down for my Momo Corsa. If you're into fabrication you might be able to make one, but be advised that this is no place for a weak link. So make sure a specific hub adapter for your model exists before you invest in the wheel.
Only other thing I've done to the dash is white-face gauges from Dave Barton. I looked for some wood trim but was told that it was no longer available for 240s, (just like the hub adapters!).
Sorry, no pics yet. Will take some after the stereo install.
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'84 '285' rice-eater with lotsa hp & performance goodies
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No wood trim for 240s anymore? Where was this? Did you try SAM? I have heard that their interior fake trim ("wood" look/"carbon" look/"aluminum" look) is quite crappy, but it should be available. There's also that place, something like Joshuawood.com that says they will make trims for 240, but the prices are sky high!
I have been playing with the idea of taking off the black trim strips from the dashboard, and laying carbon fiber fabric onto it, put on a clear coat, and reinstall them. If done right, I think that would really look nice! Shouldn't be too hard either. Maybe some day I will.
One option that I would love to achieve would be to nab the wood trim pieces from a 240 classic. Maybe you can buy them from the dealer, but they would probably cost a ton. I was at a yard once, looking around for Classics, and I found one, and I found one of the wood dash trims. YEAH! Except it had been sitting there on the floor of the car, it was faded, the finish was flaking, and the wood was dry and splitting. Did you know those parts are solid wood parts? No veneer. No plastic back.
Other options: Go find someplace selling a 240 classic, take it for a test drive, swap out the trims with your plastic ones, and hope no one notices! Why am I even saying this, I hope no one tries it! :)
Here's another way to go: paint the dash trims with silver paint. You need the right kind so you can get the proper metallic look. Richard posted here a long time back about his experiences with this, and I think the pictures look pretty good. He recommended Duplicolor "GM silver" and said it was holding up pretty well. I'll try to include a pic that he posted. If I were to do this, I would just paint the trim strip.
About the Momo steering wheel hubs, in the past, I have not had any problems locating them. I bought 2 from mail order places, and every once in a while they pop up on Ebay. They will fit with no modifications. I think the Momo 350mm wheels are about the same size as the 240 turbo steering wheels. (Also the same as 86-89 240 steering wheels) Won't block the view of the gauges.
Oh, 'nuther thing about the momo hubs, I don't think it's so much that they aren't produced anymore, but they only get produced in batches, so momo won't make any until they get enough orders from distributors. You can imagine how low demand would be for the 240. The last hub I ordered, I did have to wait about a week, because I was told the distributor was waiting for a shipment from Momo. So I guess they still do make them.
Greg
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Hey Greg. Thanks for the referral to the SAM site - never been there. Wonder what the exchange rate is for the SEK. That VAT and 25% sales tax are pretty steep!
I think is was Joshuawood that once told me they didn't make the 240 trim anymore. Well, according to their new website, they do, and yes , it's pricey. I've never really been into dash trim, esp. carbon fiber, seems too ricey. I don't even care for how it looks in most OEM applications. But that's just me - form follows function.
How long ago did you get your Momo wheel and adapter? I think you lucked out with only a week's wait. I had the adapter backordered for a year from 98-99 until I found out what you said, that Momo will only make any specific adapter in 100 count lots. BB folk finally helped me track one down from Martin Motorsports. The lesson is, if your Momo part is on backorder for a long time, then they're waiting for sufficient orders to make a batch and that could be an indefinite wait. I do love the wheel.
I've never heard of any other steering wheel manufacturer who has Volvo applications, have you?
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'84 '285' rice-eater with lotsa hp & performance goodies
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"Wonder what the exchange rate is for the SEK. That VAT and 25% sales tax are pretty steep!"
About 1/10th. 645sek is about US$65. My guess on shipping would be $25-40. You won't pay the VAT because that's only for Europe.
CFI Motorsports had the Momo hub adapters on sale a few months ago. $55 each, and they actually had them in stock. I almost bought one, but I'm happy with my steering wheel so I decided I probably wouldn't use it.
"I've never heard of any other steering wheel manufacturer who has Volvo applications, have you?"
I know of at least one 240 that had a Grant steering wheel. I know nothing about those hub adapters, where to get them, if they're available anymore, etc.
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Volvo 240 Links
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