Volvo 242 GT Build

Hey guys I'm new to this site and was recommended here by John V. and new to the Rally scene but not new to Volvos, I've been in that scene for about 8yrs now. The car will primarily be used for Rallycross as thats the only thing we have in Florida at the moment and its still a small crowd. But I eventually would like to take it to some other events a little further north if given the chance. It might also see some form of road racing as well since theres a few track not too far away but rally will be its main purpose. As of right now my main goal is to get the car striped and running with what parts I have and the mods will come later.

I know some of you are on Turbobricks as well and have already seen this build thread but I thought I share it here as well. So here's the story on my car for those of you who haven't seen it.

Over the past few years I've been talking about doing a rally car build with a friend of mine, its always been one of those things where we always talked about it but I wasn't sure it would ever happen. Then this past year I did a few races in my friend's e30 running the SCCA Rallycross modified RWD class, I instantly became hooked and decided I needed to get a car of my own. Being the Volvo nut I am I figured a 240 would be best to base my build off of as there is ample parts for 240s and 240s have been proven to be great rally cars. I spent weeks looking online and chasing leads that friends would tell me about in search of a 240 with no luck in finding anything in my price range or if it was within range the condition of it was terrible.

After searching all over the state for a good base car I remembered speaking with someone I met on FloridaVolvoCommunity when he bought a set of wheels off of me about a year ago. He had told me he works at Volvo specialty shop in Orlando and they had a 242 GT that's been there for about 10 years without moving and he believed that the owner would probably be willing to sell it. So I shot him a message and asked about the car, in turn I spoke with the guy who runs the shop and he put me in contact with the owner of the car. After some negotiations we work out a deal for the GT of $300 with no title as he lost it before it was signed into his name, but first I still needed to take a look at it as I had yet to see the car. When I went to the shop the owner of the shop said that the car had an outstanding bill due so then I had work out a deal between the owner of the shop and the owner of the car to where I pay the shop the $300 and they clear his bill and all is good.

After I paid the shop off for the car I wanted to see about getting a title for the car, at first I wasn't too concerned about it but then I thought it might be nice to have it street legal as well. I looked at a few different options such as getting a out of state title, having the DMV file for an abandoned title, in the end I decided the best route was to go through the shop have them put a lean on it and wait till they get the title in a few months later. I got a call a few days later from the shop and it turned out that the owner of the car I dealt with actually did have the title in his name in the past and that all I needed to do was meet him at the shop the car is at to meet up and sign the title. A few days later I go to the shop to meet up and get the title signed. Then the owner of the car decides to pull a dick move on me and tells me I owe him $200 for the title since he had it extradited and printed the same day without telling me before I got there. I only had $100 at my disposal at the time and try to deal with him as I wasn't forewarned about this and not to mention the owner I feel is responsible for the title if it was in there name also I didn't ask for him to get the title printed the same day. In the end the owner wouldn't budge from his $200 price and continued to be a prick about the ordeal in which I left mad and annoyed I drove over an hour for no reason.

A few weeks go by and my girlfriend surprises me with a pic of the title in her hand with the caption of "you have the best girlfriend in the world". She had surprised me and went to pay off the title for me since she knew how mad I was due to the owner of the car being a douchebag and the fact I still did not have this car after a few months of going back and forth between the car owner and the shop. So for this I can say I do have the best girlfriend in the world. It took me a while to be able to go pick up my new GT as my 740 blew a head gasket and I was working on some other small issues with it. But finally he was up and running well enough to where I trusted him to pull the GT home. Of course I had to rent a U Haul car dolly to tow my " 88 Honda CRX" (only car I've found out that they will let a 740 pull) back home with. Which leads us up to date with the project. Some additional info on the car is it's a '79 242 GT that was supposed to get restored at a shop but then was abandoned.

My plans for the car are as follows
-get it running
-strip the interior
-install Bilstein HDs all around
-pull out the somewhat freshly rebuilt B21 and replace it with a B230ft running lh2.4
-install a m46 (original is missing)
-weld the diff or install a LSD if I can find one
-Install a cage
- IPD alloy skid plate
- possibly IPD sways
- possible adjustable coilovers in the future as I might also want to run road races as well
-A/C delete
-rally tires to fit on the factory Virgos
-weld trim holes

I'm sure this list will grow as the build progresses on but I fell this is a good start.
I have already acquired a set of Sparco Sprinter seats, head lights and tail lights, I also pulled a set of Billy HDs from the jy as well as torque rods with poly bushings and some factory turbo gauges to install somewhere later on. I have also already purchased a m46, lh2.4 wiring harness and turbo computers, intercooler/piping, e fan, and a set of factory 16" BBSs from a 740 to use for street tires some of this came from a friend of mine but most I already had. I am currently in the progress of trying to buy back an old B230ft squirter engine from my friend that was in my old 780 I sold to him.

Anyways enough talking and on to the pics!

Here's a few blurry pics I snapped the first time I got to see the GT





loaded up on my 740 aka project Satan



Finally made it home





A few pics of it in its new resting spot until I get a new engine and tranny to drop in. As you can see it even came with an extra flat hood





Some interior pics this is almost exactly how I got it but I had already taken out one of the rear seats, 2 sets of rear panels, and a 16 valve head from the interior prior to taking this pic.







Amongst digging around the interior I found some old service records



Here's everything that was inside the interior of the car when i bought it.







What the inside looks like now, it still needs a good vacuuming but much inproved over everything that came out of it.











I wonder if the mileage is correct?





How the trunk looked when I bought it





Recent junk yard finds



Some bits I picked up from one of my friends



Here is the B21 that's in it. From what I was told by the shop I got it from they rebuilt this engine about 8yrs ago put it back in the car and it has never been run. Almost a shame I wont be using it.



Half way washed it looks like Harvey Dent mg:



Finally after an hour or so of washing it and a bottle of purple power here's the results.





I also washed the second flat hood so now I just need to decide which one I want to use as they're both in pretty good shape. I also found it funny that while washing it some of the paint began to flake off revealing that this has been painted before, and sadly the paint underneath looks better so far. I still need to find a good way to clean under the cowl. It'd be nice if I could get it to shine again but it looks like I'll need to respray it anyway.

I decided it need to look like a GT again so I went to putting the front end back together, however the grill in the car was broke and in need of much love.

Heres how it looked when I pulled it out of the car.



Using some super glue and plastidip the grille looks much better. While at it I plastidipped the headlight bezels. Took out the hood release set up, as I will be using hood pins, and the horn mount. I then painted the front or the core support black to get rid of rust and also to help the grille and headlight bezels look darker.



I haven't put the slash back in as I'm still looking for a bottom half for it and just thought it might look funky with half a slash.

I got some bumpers for it from an '84 to put on it.



I got out the old suspension and put in the new jy pieces.

Old torque rods compared to the new style ones with poly bushings its also nice to know the newer style ones are a little thicker in diameter.


Everything in


and pieces I took out of the rear end to help lighten the load up a bit


Also a few quick pics from some previous Rallycross events in my friends e30







I look forward to this build and hope you guys enjoy it!

Holy epic first post batman!

Haha yeah ive been working on the car for about a month now and have a build thread on a few Volvo forums so I just kinda updated everything into one post thats up to date on the build from the forums.

Way easier than welding up all those trim holes: get 3M trim tape and just run it down the trim line.

Al, dumb question: Are you saying leave the tape to cover the holes, or using the tape to re-attach the trim?

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Enablers, All of you.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2013 06:24AM by BobOfTheFuture.

There is nifty silver and black trim tape from 3m about 1/2 inch wide, available at Auto-zone. Just use it instead of the trim.

Welding up all those holes is too much work for a rallycar...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2013 11:52AM by alkun.

Bad ass thread! Build looks very cool thusfar.

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Kirk Coughlin
Woodbury, MN and River Falls, WI

Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est.

Quote
darkknight9
Bad ass thread! Build looks very cool thusfar.

Yeah poor guy is over on Turpo-Pricks and everybody is an ex-spurt so I suggested he might find better support here which really is the spiritual home of clubman 2wd-dom in Norte Americano rally..

Now we have to find Ian Topping's piccies and Pat Derow's shots of shell prep...

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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.

Quote
alkun
There is nifty silver and black trim tape from 3m about 1/2 inch wide, available at Auto-zone. Just use it instead of the trim.

Welding up all those holes is too much work for a rallycar...

Awesome. I was considering finding some 'lil plastic plugs or something... That might be a better solution.

Edit- All I seem to find is the double sided stuff. Guess a trip to autozone is needed...

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Enablers, All of you.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2013 09:53PM by BobOfTheFuture.

Quote
Steve-O
and pieces I took out of the rear end to help lighten the load up a bit

What are the 3 plates? The Armor from around the gas tank?

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Enablers, All of you.

Thanks guys! Al I'll look into the tape as a possibility Bob one is just heat shield for the trunk and yeah the other 2 pieces are like a skid plate, I took them out in order to make a more light weight version the 2 pieces alone weighed around 30lbs!

Any input is appreciated on the build and if you guys know of some links to other builds done on here I'd like to get some ideas.

You might know it as "Pinstripe" tape. Or, just get creative with some O' that handy-dandy coloured vinyl 'lecktrickery tape. Put enough different colours on it, nobody will ever know.

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Parfois, on fait pas semblant!

I am:
I know:
I am from:

Nobody.
Nothing.
Nowhere.

Nice looking project Steve!

ipd sells an adhesive trim that looks ok and covers the holes.

I rallycross my wagon and I've got it set up with poly bushings, Bilstien HDs, coil-overs with 225lbs springs in front and ipd sport springs with the small coil cut off in the rear and just a 16mm rear sway bar in back. Maybe not the best set up but it works pretty well for me. Also I welded the diff. Works great in the dirt but eats tires as a daily driver.

I'm looking forward to more posts! Keep up the good work!

Alex who's coil over set up are you running? One thing I'm happy with the GT about is the 23mm sways all around which is why I'm not 100% sure about getting IPDs for it cause is $400 really worth the extra 2mm thickness I'd be gaining? AS far as a welded diff I'm not too worried about it as a DD I'd only occasionally drive it on the streets, however I know someone who has a Quick Lock locker rearend assembly that if I come up with a little extra cash might be willing to part with.

Steve, IF you are going to get real suspension then it doesn't matter what sways you use.. Most use none on gravel or very very light.

And by real suspension we mean something with correct travel, valving and springs with enough travel--something I rarely see on home-made slid a sleeve over set ups.

Out of the box Bilsteins are valved way softer both compression and rebound for a 2700-2800lb Volvo road car than a 2100 lb Ford Escort uses in the woods with 160-190lb springs..

Do you see what is wrong with that picture?

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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.