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Mike K's '79 242 Barn Car Revival

Ready to go tomorrow. Only thing I didn't get done was putting on the new belt line trim, oh well. Weather doesn't look great but shouldn't be too bad.

I got the skinny bumpers swapped on and really like the look of them. I had painted the covers with the SEM bumper coater in Honda black, then got them all assembled with new clips and hardware. The back bumper is WAY shallower than the bumper that came off the '92 wagon. Also glad to be rid of the ugly floppy commando trim in the back.

Don't love putting holes in the car but gotta do what ya gotta do

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trim clips were expensive

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ahh much better! And they are super light.

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Already shortened this pipe once but need to take another 2" or so off with the shorter bumper.

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I bought this set of 5 panels a long time ago and finally put them on. I had to glue the reverse lens on but they are in amazing shape, glossy and might as well be brand new. Beautiful survivors courtesy of the PNW.

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Need to find a piece of left trim

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The front bumper I just put on with the commando trim. It really doesn't lay too bad on the skinny bumper, and I like the piece of stainless that runs on the top of it. I will probably end up leaving it as is.

Got a VDO boost gauge that is a better match to the triple gauges. The trim piece of the triple gauge cluster buzzes like crazy I have to find some way to shut it up. I also didn't notice until now that I'm missing the trim around the vents. In a tub somewhere...

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I'm mostly done with the interior of the car besides some fine tuning stuff. I have some minor repair to do on the Recaros that I might try to get done this year. When I was getting my tires mounted they had a nice Alfa 75 in the parking lot with a great 80's Recaro interior. The back seats looked pretty good, wondering if they'd fit in the 242. I'd like to put some kind of nicer looking back seat in the car and do the front and back seats in this upholstery (this is an Alfa 75 interior):

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I had one of those Alfa recaros I sold last year. The material is NLA and really expensive NOS, like $1000/yard expensive.
 
mopar318 said:
I had one of those Alfa recaros I sold last year. The material is NLA and really expensive NOS, like $1000/yard expensive.
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Yeah I figured it'd be like that. I was hoping I might be able to find a worthwhile knock off. It'd be nice to break up the black with something and I like the subtle grey tones.

Despite spitting rain there was a pretty good turnout at the eeuroparts.com show today, probably 300 or so cars. Good Volvo turnout, I had the only 242 there though. They had crowd judged awards and I was pretty excited and surprised to win the 'People's Choice' trophy. Between my Dad and I we also banked $300 in site credit in their raffle so all around a good day. Oh and the food truck poutine for lunch was killer... good show. A lifted 740 won another award, so it was cool to see two old Volvos in the winner's circle.

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Car is looking really nice. That engine bay... :drool:
Is that an 86+ front bumper or a 83-85? Looks like it sticks way out like an 86+.

Stiggy Pop said:
Yeah I figured it'd be like that. I was hoping I might be able to find a worthwhile knock off. It'd be nice to break up the black with something and I like the subtle grey tones.
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A nice beige/tan would compliment your car well.
 
Tuff240 said:
Car is looking really nice. That engine bay... :drool:
Is that an 86+ front bumper or a 83-85? Looks like it sticks way out like an 86+.


A nice beige/tan would compliment your car well.
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Thanks. Need to get the rest of the body on the same level as the bay now. I'm going to end up putting rocker panels on it and painting it (beige) but not in a rush.

83-85 with the right shocks, just swapped out they were 92 bumpers before which were noticeably bigger. Fish eye pic kinda stretches it I think.
 
Thanks guys, very kind words. It's a lot of fun to finally get out of the garage and show off the hard work. It was also nice to beat out the BMW's at a mixed-make show and the car kind of catches people off guard which is fun to watch. Lot of the crowd glanced at it while walking past, then caught the engine bay and doubled back to take a real look.

Pat would be proud that I refused to rev the hell out of it in neutral despite the goading from the crowd :lol:. Also learned I'd be a lot cooler if I had two-step launch control to make poppy noises with... oh well.

The Full Banana said:
Looking wonderful as ever, Mike. Congrats on the well-deserved trophy! I still need to see this car in person some day.
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We need a TB swinger's club so we can swap cars around for a week :-D

Car's gonna sit for a bit now, aside from a few more trips to work to keep breaking it in. Leaving Saturday for a two-week trip, when I get back I'm going to drain the break-in oil and make myself check the valve clearances. Seems like that will be a bit of a PITA with the shim-under-bucket setup but need to keep up the due dilligence with this engine. Then just need to keep driving and checking so I can eventually start working the boost up.
 
I like the way the rear bumper looks without the huge commando trim. I have been looking to make the rear bumper trim look smaller, but i didnt want to cut it. Where did you get the new rear bumper trim from?
 
kuzzy13 said:
I like the way the rear bumper looks without the huge commando trim. I have been looking to make the rear bumper trim look smaller, but i didnt want to cut it. Where did you get the new rear bumper trim from?
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Yeah it made a really big difference in the rear of the car. I got lucky and a local friend of my Dad's let me clean out his skinny bumper parts stock, including bags of NOS clips and odds and ends. I just need to find the driver's hockey stick for the back and I'll be all set.

blkaplan said:
congrats on getting it all together for the show!
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Thanks Ben! The show was a good motivator/excuse to push to get it ready. If I didn't have that bit of pressure on myself I'd probably still be sanding the stupid wheels after work lol.
 
Post #400
Can't say enough about the support that this site has provided to Mike as he's gone down the road (or into the garage) with this car. There has been technical support, parts support, and maybe most importantly, moral support from like minded people.

Sunday was a big day for both of us, personally I'd like to say thanks to all of you, and how happy/proud I was that he and the car got some recognition. Every time the hood gets opened, people stop and look, Sunday there was almost always 2-6 people poking around. I knew the car got attention, but People's Choice was very unexpected for me.

(there was a beeeutiful red M6 at the show, if there wasn't blood involved, I might have voted for that car.)
 
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