[brucepick]

Hey - another Volvo guy! My wife and I drove nothing but 240s for about 14 years. I always had a wagon, auto trans. I did some ecomodding on it and actually got 29 and sometimes 30 mpg on my 1 hour commute.

Tell us about your car. What tranny? Is it carb'ed or injected?

A 164 should be a six-cyl, right? Is it the odd-fire V6, with spark plug terminals arranged in three pair of two? Those are known for upper engine lube failures. But if its a straight six or the even-fire V6, I'd feel better about it. (pm me if you want to talk details)

I can recommend an electric radiator fan. It was my first mod project on my 240 and probably the one that got the most gain. If you relieve the engine of the job of spinning the fan, you have more power available for other needs - or you give slightly less throttle for the same reason. It's not a real easy job for neophyte but maybe you have a buddy who's into auto electrical projects. Hmmm - I'm in CT (southeast corner), but my wife seems to think I should be home on weekends. You get a fan from a junkyard - just make sure it's big enough to cover the back of your radiator. Of course there's a lot more to it than that, mainly the switching of the fan. You might need to put in a bit bigger alternator to cover the load. If your car has a 6-cyl, finding a different alt that fits might be a challenge though.