Mediocre 242

[t8fanning]

I've had this car long enough. I figure it's about time to make a build thread.





I got this 1982 242 turbo in May 2014 from Oregon. My family lives in Vancouver, WA, but I live in Utah so I had my brother pick it up for me sight unseen, and a few weeks later I flew out and drove it back to Utah without any problems at all.

I don't have many pictures from when I first got it, but it was a totally stock, well sorted B21FT.





I daily drove it stock for a while before putting some nicer seats in. I wish they were still as nice as they were in this picture, but the fabric is old and they were sitting in a warehouse for a long time. I need to get them recovered sometime soon.



I then put a T5 transmission in along with some RSI coilovers and other suspension upgrades. I drove it like this for quite a while until I started having some stall issues on deceleration with K jet. I always was planning on converting the car to EFI, so I installed microsquirt and some other engine upgrades.



I had found a cheap crappy tubular manifold for some redblock turbo project at an IPD garage sale, so I modified it a little to fit the 240 engine bay. I also picked up a GT2871r to go on this manifold. The fit was really tight because the turbo was placed with the CHRA pretty much in line with the spark plug of cylinder 1. I daily drove it like this for a while with no real issues until I had popped a few freeze plugs. I found my head gasket had failed and was letting cylinder pressure into the coolant jacket, popping the freeze plugs. I also experienced some compressor surge because I wasn't flowing enough air through the head. I fixed this with a ported compressor housing, with plans to do head work in the future.



The low quality exhaust manifold steel kept cracking at both the inlet and outlet flanges. I worked with this a while, and even replaced the bends after the inlet flange with some decent stainless tube. It didn't look great, but worked ok. Eventually, I picked up an RSI tubular manifold. It's worlds nicer and I shouldn't have to worry about fixing cracks again. It also puts the turbo a little further forward and allows for easier access. Along the way I also picked up one of Nathan's intake manifolds.



I had a few other issues with my B21FT, including low power and excessive blow by, so I began looking for a nicer engine to swap in. Gnomestur contacted me and told me he would sell the B230FT he had been building for a long time. He gave me a great deal, much cheaper than I could have built it for, so we met in Vegas and I picked up his engine.

The new engine is very well put together and came with tons of machine shop receipts. The engine specs are:

93 block with oil squirters
RSI stage 3 cam and adjustable cam gear
RSI h beam rods
Ported and polished head with custom 40 mm exhaust and 48 mm intake valves
RSI valve springs with chromoly retainers
Crank scraper
Wiseco wave guide pistons
Kevlar timing belt

I'm currently putting the finishing touches on the engine and getting it ready to swap in.





The B21FT is out and gone. I'm currently touching up the engine bay paint a little. Nothing fancy, I'm not removing everything and repainting, just some sanding and touch up paint to make the bay a little nicer for the new engine. I want to do a full respray eventually, but that's a long way down the line.

I thought I'd make this thread to document some of the changes I'm making while making it easier to ask questions in a single thread.

[Harlard]

Put the stock front end back on

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Harlard

Put the stock front end back on

no u

[t8fanning]

Originally Posted by Matt

no u

Now I look foolish. Thank.

[Stiggy Pop]

you didn't have a build thread?! Car's really turned into something special. I'll be miffed if you beat me to a 400whp dyno sheet but I haven't worked on my car in months so I guess I can't complain...

[oldschoolvolvo]

Looks good! What are your suspension specs?

[Finnish240]

This car is great. I've Been following you in IG and been wondering do u have build thread.

[Stiggy Pop]

Originally Posted by oldschoolvolvo

Looks good! What are your suspension specs?

static, dope AF, canibeat.

[t8fanning]

Originally Posted by Harlard

Put the stock front end back on

No u.

Originally Posted by Stiggy Pop

you didn't have a build thread?! Car's really turned into something special. I'll be miffed if you beat me to a 400whp dyno sheet but I haven't worked on my car in months so I guess I can't complain...

Nope. I don't usually take pictures while I'm working, and I didn't think making a thread would be worth the effort. Actually putting a nice engine in changed my mind though.

I am highly motivated to get it running because it's my daily driver and my wife wants her car back, but I probably won't turn it up until the spring. 400 whp in the snow with my skinny tires isn't the best idea in the world.

Originally Posted by oldschoolvolvo

Looks good! What are your suspension specs?

RSI short strut coilovers and adjustable rear perches, Kaplhenke adjustable strut mounts, Bilstein shorties, 300 lb front springs, 175 lb rear springs. IPD swaybars, torque rods, panhard rod, and polyurethane control arm bushings.

Originally Posted by Stiggy Pop

static, dope AF, canibeat.

I forgot to put my sick #CAMBERGANG BRO windshield banner on.

[Harlard]

Originally Posted by t8fanning

No u.

It already is, bro

[Matt]

[Lord_Athlon]

Needs more coffin or more black

[t8fanning]

Originally Posted by Lord_Athlon

Needs more coffin or more black

Don't remind me. I've been meaning to paint my spare flathood for a long time. Other things always pop up and cosmetic things are usually superseded by performance.

[Harlard]

Originally Posted by Lord_Athlon

Needs more coffin or more black

Originally Posted by t8fanning

Don't remind me. I've been meaning to paint my spare flathood for a long time. Other things always pop up and cosmetic things are usually superseded by performance.

Put coffin hood back on until you paint flathood.

[t8fanning]

Originally Posted by Harlard

Put coffin hood back on until you paint flathood.

Never. No coffin hood will ever plague my 240 again. Plus I don't have the quad squares anymore.

[toms_elleck]

Originally Posted by t8fanning

Never. No coffin hood will ever plague my 240 again. Plus I don't have the quad squares anymore.

Yes, thank you.

Rattle can that hood with some appliance paint, especially if you have a spare hood to try it on. It works amazingly well, shines almost as well as stock paint, and costs $10 (for two cans)
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=320240

Just sand and spray. No clearcoat needed.

[Redwood Chair]

Or pay Maaco 2 bills to squirt it.

[toms_elleck]

Originally Posted by Redwood Chair

Or pay Maaco 2 bills to squirt it.

$200 > $10
And the quality might be nearly the same.

[photoman327]

Glad to see you doing a build tread and a red block since everyone is going LS.

[t8fanning]

My buddy is in the automotive body program at a local university and has access to their paint bay. I really just need to go spend $100 or so at Sherwin-Williams and pick up some black single stage. Just haven't done it yet.

[John242Ti]

Originally Posted by t8fanning

My buddy is in the automotive body program at a local university and has access to their paint bay. I really just need to go spend $100 or so at Sherwin-Williams and pick up some black single stage. Just haven't done it yet.

Get the sunroof panel done at the same time, unless you installed the spare panel that Luke had for the car when he owned it.

-J

[cosbySweater]

get the coffin hood back on there. this is turbobricks, not vwvortex

[amerbritcan]

I think the orange hood looks neat

[quillc]

Nice work!

[Quin]

glad to see a thread for this car finally. i was very surprised at ipd to walk over and see what was under the hood.