Logbooked volvo 242 rally car

Well someone had to buy it! My thoughts anyways...

I recently bought the SCCA Log-booked 242 posted here and elsewhere and am in the process of bringing it back to life and sorting out some less than top-notch repairs/upgrades made over time.

I'm new to the forum, and sitting behind the wheel of a rally car, but not new to rally or cars. My dad's an ASE Master Tech and owns a heavy truck shop where I've been working for most of my life so I'm pretty comfortable doing just about anything to a car except body work. I've been into Land rovers for 15 or so years now which provide plenty of tinkering on their own. I attended my first rally in 2006 or 7 and was hooked. Got involved in crewing, met a bunch of very friendly people, have volunteered at a few events, got my HAM license and as of just recently, finally picked up my own log-booked car.

My goal for this car is to learn the ropes of stage rally, have fun, not wrap it around a tree, and over time update it and improve it's performance and components in areas where it makes sense, and my wallet can afford. It's a solid car that seems to have started out life well intentioned, but has lost some luster and had some questionable repairs done here and there. I know turbo-bricks would be disappointed but I'm not really into janky jb-welded/electrical-taped everything.

Right off the bat after picking it up I did:
Timing belt
Reinstalled the cable e-brake (had none)
Replaced some worn steering components
Pads and rotors, calipers
Misc Electrical repairs

Made it through a rally-cross...barely. Remember the janky repairs? Well someone forgot to safety wire the venturi-tube alignment bolts on the weber carbs so they fell out mid event and the tubes slowly rotated out of place leaving me with a big vacuum leak and fuel to only 2 cylinders. Didn't discover the source issue until I got home and its since been resolved. Second rally-cross went much better and I came home with no major mechanical issues found.

Moving along, in the next 1.5 months I'm hoping to complete the following list before attending a rally sprint:
Finish the pre stage-rally check-list including
Get co-driver seat
Install intercom
Fire extinguishers/triangles
re-design/build a not so crappy skid-plate

Over-time I'll work on the following:
Repair/update some more half-assed wiring
update the suspension
convert to fuel-injection maybe (I have a complete system on a running parts car)
paint inside and out
learn to drive better

In the meantime here's a few pics. Looking forward to sharing more as things progress. This is my first Volvo but so far so good.

Cool car!
100% on fixing the crappy wiring! Simplify as much as possible and reduce the failure points. Volvo's are one of the laziest wired cars from the factory. You can save a good bit of weight by just downsizing to the proper sized wires for everything and simplifying the circuits.

ummm.... air filter?

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First Rally: 2010 First RallyX: 2004 (a bunch)
Driver (0), Co-Driver (7)
Organizer (3), Volunteer (3)
Cars Built (2.5), Engines Blown (2) Cages Built (0) # of rotations (3.5)
Last Updated, Apr 9, 2023

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Gravity Fed
ummm.... air filter?

Nah, just robs horsepower...

They were just off in this pic for some reason, back on now.

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Drmike

Cool cool
Bla bla sounds cool... bla bla

convert to fuel-injection maybe (I have a complete system on a running parts car)

Are you friggin nuts???! just the sight of those makes me quiver with rally goodness

Carbs man, carbs!

Cool car

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Mad Matt F

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Drmike

Cool cool
Bla bla sounds cool... bla bla

convert to fuel-injection maybe (I have a complete system on a running parts car)

Are you friggin nuts???! just the sight of those makes me quiver with rally goodness

Carbs man, carbs!

Plus Juan!

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

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john vanlandingham

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Mad Matt F

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Drmike

Cool cool
Bla bla sounds cool... bla bla

convert to fuel-injection maybe (I have a complete system on a running parts car)

Are you friggin nuts???! just the sight of those makes me quiver with rally goodness

Carbs man, carbs!

Plus Juan!

Yeah yeah it does have a certain cool factor doesn't it... It's only a maybe at this point. I bought the Weber book and am giving it a go at tuning them. It was not running well when I first picked it up and I'm getting it better in stages as I find problems or adjust things properly. If I can get a handle on it I'll keep them on there.

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Drmike

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john vanlandingham

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Mad Matt F

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Drmike

Cool cool
Bla bla sounds cool... bla bla

convert to fuel-injection maybe (I have a complete system on a running parts car)

Are you friggin nuts???! just the sight of those makes me quiver with rally goodness

Carbs man, carbs!

Try and figure out what cam you have then post it. Then i can reccomend a jetting set.. for that matter post what jets you currently have..You know how to get them out?


Plus Juan!

Yeah yeah it does have a certain cool factor doesn't it... It's only a maybe at this point. I bought the Weber book and am giving it a go at tuning them. It was not running well when I first picked it up and I'm getting it better in stages as I find problems or adjust things properly. If I can get a handle on it I'll keep them on there.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
john vanlandingham

Try and figure out what cam you have then post it. Then i can reccomend a jetting set.. for that matter post what jets you currently have..You know how to get them out?

Will do. I'm told the cam is a Topi/TRS cam and have some paperwork with notes. Will have to go through and see if I can identify which cam it is and see if there is profile info. I also need to do a valve adjustment, not sure if there will be any identifying info under the valve cover.

I will be checking the float levels in the next couple days, I'll grab the jet numbers when I do. I know how to access the main and idle jets, I can reference the book if I need anything else.

Currently the car idles fine and runs great above 2500rpm up to 6500-7k, no power and bogs when accelerating hard between idle and 2500. I'm gonna check float level/condition (no leaks if it's brass, weight if composite) first and then follow the book's procedure for testing idle jet/progression circuit for lean/rich and see where I end up. I'll take any hints or suggestions in the meantime if you have any. I have a collection of jets if I need to swap them out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2017 12:21PM by Drmike.

Is there a vacuum advance on the distributor? Is it hooked up?
Bogging down low is usually a lack of ignition advance and/or too much fuel. A widebond o2 sensor will make dialing in the carbs much easier if you're not familiar with the process.
We ran a metric f-ton of advance on the b230 with k-jet and a shaved head. It kept on getting happier as it was added, and it never knocked/pinged on premium.

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Robert Culbertson
Is there a vacuum advance on the distributor? Is it hooked up?

Good thought, and I did think about that. It looks like there is a vacuum port on the distributor with no line hooked up currently. I think the problem feels a little severe to be purely related to improper timing/no vacuum advance but I'll definitely check it out. Investigating and hooking up that vacuum advance was on my list anyways, if I don't find the floats way out of whack or the jetting off, I'll tackle that next.

I was thinking about a wideband o2 sensor but wasn't sure. I might look into it more if it's valuable to have for carb tuning. I would need to weld a bung into the headers which is not a big deal but is another thing to do...

Make sure the jets are there... and not just floating around in the bowls. (Oh wait, that was my problem... )

Wideband for tuning carbs is awesome. Forget pulling plugs, just do smoky pulls!

Robert, is a metric F-ton more or less than a metric S-ton? Or wait, maybe F-ton is a measure of degrees! Ahhh... I get it.

Sounds to me like someone did some yankee engine reliability mods and set the static timing way advanced and then pulled the vacuum advance off (I wouldn't be surprised if you found the advance mechanism pinned or welded in place) I've never done it but it was an old new england hill-climber mod that seems to have proliferated into other realms. All because one person had an issue once...

If for some reason they buggered up the distributor, I have one in my garage off a k-jet car that you can have for the cost of shipping.

Making progress...

Purchased a wide-band o2 sensor and gauge. Need to build a new exhaust that doesn't leak so I'm holding off on installing that until I can complete it. I won't be doing much more with tuning until it's installed.

In the meantime I'm working on getting the car road-legal/ more driver friendly.

Pulled the transmission to sort out the clutch. It has a T5 swap but the clutch was not functioning properly. I modified the clutch fork mount to give it better geometry and stroke on the throw-out bearing. It works much better now.

Had no dash lights. Traced that out and diagnosed a faulty dimmer. Bypassed the dimmer for now so at least I have some lights in there.

Electric windows are not functioning. The wiring to the motors in the doors was still there so i routed in to the cab. Waiting on some high-amp momentary switches that I'll wire in. Tested the windows with a power probe to make sure they at least work, they do.

Tackled some of the small wiring faults, that list is getting shorter.

Lastly I mocked up the new co-driver seat!